Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal off to winning start at All England Championships

In-form Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal began their All England Championships campaign with easy straight-game wins over their opponents in Birmingham on Wednesday.

World Championship silver medalist Srikanth and last week’s German Open finalist Sen continued their brilliant form to enter the men’s singles second round.

In an all-Indian men’s singles first-round encounter, Sen defeated his senior compatriot and reigning national champion Sourabh Verma 21-17, 21-7, in 33 minutes.

World No. 11 Sen faced stiff competition in the first game but consolidated his position as the match progressed.

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Lakshya Sen to face Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in the second round of All England Championships

Lakshya Sen will have a tough second-round encounter at the All England Championships.

The Almora youngster will clash with third seed Anders Antonsen on Thursday. The tall Danish star knocked out reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in three games on Wednesday.

It will be Sen’s first meeting with world No.3 Antonsen on the international circuit.

Kidambi Srikanth thumped Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand 21-18, 21-14, in a 36-minute encounter. The World No. 13 was always in control against his Thai opponent, who is ranked 21 in the world.

Former world No. 1 Srikanth will take on fifth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia in the second round. The formidable Indonesian shuttler ousted Parupalli Kashyap 21-11, 21-18, in the first round.

In another men’s singles tie, B Sai Praneeth lost to top seed and Tokyo Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen 20-22, 11-21, in a first-round match that lasted 48 minutes.

HS Prannoy went down fighting to last week’s German Open champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 15-21, 22-24, in 56 minutes.

Sameer Verma also went down to Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands 18-21, 11-21, in a 41-minute opening match.

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PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal move up in All England Championships

Ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal began their All England Championships campaign with straight-game victories in the women’s singles.

Sixth seed Sindhu trounced Zhi Yi Wang of China 21-18, 21-13, in her first-round match that lasted 42 minutes.

Nehwal got the better of Beatriz Corrales of Spain 21-17, 21-19, in 38 minutes.

If Sindhu and Nehwal win their respective second-round matches, they will face each other in the quarter-finals.

In men’s doubles, fifth-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dismissed the Scottish pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall 21-17, 21-19, in 38 minutes.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela rallied back to shock Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand 17-21, 22-20, 21-14, in the women’s doubles.

The duo won in 67 minutes against the higher-ranked Thai opponents. They returned from 12-18 and 18-20 down in the second game to save two match points against the Aimsaard sisters.

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Indian results at All England Championships (Round 1)

Men’s singles

Lakshya Sen bt Sourabh Verma 21-17, 21-7 (33 minutes)

Kidambi Srikanth bt Kantaphon Wangcharoen (Thailand) 21-18, 21-14 (36 minutes)

B Sai Praneeth lost to 1-Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) 20-22, 11-21 (48 minutes)

Sameer Verma lost to Mark Caljouw (Netherlands) 18-21, 11-21 (41 minutes)

HS Prannoy lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand) 15-21, 22-24 (56 minutes)

Parupalli Kashyap lost to 5-Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) 11-21, 18-21 (37 minutes)

Women’s singles

6-PV Sindhu bt Wang Zhi Yi (China) 21-18, 21-13 (42 minutes)

Saina Nehwal bt Beatriz Corrales (Spain) 21-17, 21-19 (38 minutes)

Aakarshi Kashyap lost to Michelle Li (Canada) 18-21, 18-21 (40 minutes)

Men’s doubles

5-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bt Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall (Scotland) 21-17, 21-19 (38 minutes)

Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala lost to Mark Lamsfuss-Marvin Seidel (Germany) 16-21, 19-21 (37 minutes)

MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila lost to 2-Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia) 21-15, 12-21, 18-21 (52 minutes)

Women’s doubles

Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela bt Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard (Thailand) 17-21, 22-20, 21-14 (67 minutes)

Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy lost to Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Japan) 9-21, 13-21 (35 minutes)

Jakkampudi Meghana-Poorvisha S Ram lost to Supissara Paewsampran-Puttita Supajirakul (Thailand) 5-21, 3-21 (22 minutes)