All England Open: Know who sailed into the second round

Birmingham, Mar 18: India's campaign at the All England Open started on high as India shuttlers PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma, and Sai Praneeth winning their respective first-round games on Wednesday (local time).

 

Apart from them, Indian men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy progressed to the second round while Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the men's singles event after losing their respective first-round matches.

 

However, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal exited the event after retiring hurt in the first round match (21-8, 10-4) against Danish badminton player Mia Blichfeldt.

For Prannoy, it was an easy victory as he defeated Malaysian badminton player Liew Daren in two straight sets 21-10, 21-10 while Sameer had to toil hard for his win as Ygor Coelho from Brazil gave him a tough fight.

 

Praneeth too won his first-round game against French badminton player Toma Junior Popov in two straight sets (21-18, 22-20) on Wednesday (local time).

Prannoy will now face star Japanese badminton player Kento Momota in the second round while Sameer will meet Danish badminton player Anders Antonsen on Thursday. Praneeth will lock horns with Danish badminton player Viktor Axelsen in the second round of the All England Open on Thursday.

Ace India shuttler PV Sindhu cruised to the second round of the All England Open with a win over Malaysia's Sonia Cheah. Sindhu overcame the first-round challenge as she won 21-11, 21-17 in 39 minutes.

 

Also, the Indian men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankirerddy progressed to the second round of the showpiece event.