All England Championship: Saina bows out; Sindhu, Srikanth survive scare

India's Saina Nehwal

Star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth prevailed in tough first-round battles but Saina Nehwal exited from the prestigious All England Championships after suffering a straight-game defeat against World No. 1 and defending champion Tai Tzu-Ying here yesterday.

World No. 3 Srikanth recovered from a lop-sided opening game to struggle past France's Brice Leverdez 7-21, 21-14, 22-20, while Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong to prevail 20-22, 21-17, 21-9.

Srikanth will square off against either China's Huang Yuxiang or England's Rajiv Ouseph, while Sindhu faces the winner of the match between USA's Beiwen Zhang and Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol.

B Sai Praneeth went down to 21-13, 15-21, 11-21 to fifth seed Korean Son Wan Ho. Saina, who had reached the finals in the 2015 edition, couldn't match up to the precision and athleticism of Tai Tzu and went down 14-21, 18-21. It was Saina's eighth successive loss to the Taiwanese wizard in five years.

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