All England Open: Sindhu sails to Rounds 2, Saina exits with an injury


All England Open: Sindhu sails to Rounds 2, Saina exits with an injury

PV Sindhu

The first round matches of the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships began after much hiatus due to the COVID-19 scare. There were reports of players and support staff from three countries having tested positive for the virus. In the second test, they later turned negative tests. This all caused a delay of about 5 hours in the commencement of the 111th edition of the historical tournament.

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First seed Carolina Marin withdrew a few days before the tournament due to an injury sustained at the Swiss Open.

Akane Yamaguchi, was back to winning ways, beating Qi Xuefei 21-17, 21-13.

Sindhu sails to Round 2

PV Sindhu
PV Sindhu

Pusarla V Sindhu, seeded fifth, began her All England tour with a first-round match against Soniia Cheah of Malaysia. She knocked the Malyasian out at ease in just 39 minutes 21-11, 21-17.

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Saina Crashes out due to injury

Saina Nehwal Thailand OPen
Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal played her opening round against seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. It was an unfortunate birthday for Saina Nehwal as she retired midway through the second game due to injury. She was trailing 21-8. 10-4, and she walked up to the chair and announced her withdrawal.

Ratchanok Intanon, Thailand’s favorite women’s singles player faces Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in the first round. The Thai comfortably registered a win with a 21-14, 21-16 victory.

Busanan Ongbumrungphan, also from Thailand, the eighth seed, triumphed over Kisona Selvaduray of Malaysia 21-6, 21-7.

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Okuhara Nozomi
Nozomi Okuhara

Nozomi Okuhara[2]  faced Julie Dawall Jakobsen of Denmark in the first round. She breezed past her Danish opponent 21-11, 21-7 in just 29 minutes.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy registered a win against a Thai pair of Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard in just 30 minutes 21-14, 21-12.

It was a day to remember for The young pair of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam as they played their first-ever Super 1000 event and that being the prestigious All England. They were up against the seventh seeds Lauren Smith and Chloe Birch from England. The Indian duo went down fighting 21-14, 21-11 in 34 minutes.

Alexandra Boje and Mette Poulsen of Denmark defeated the pairing of Meghana J and Poorvisha Ram 21-10, 21-15.

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Upcoming Round 2 matches

  • Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy vs Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva[6]
  • PV Sindhu vs Line Christophersen
  • Nozomi Okuhara vs Linda Zetchiri
  • Mia Blichfeldt vs Yvonne Li
  • Akane Yamaguchi vs Neslihan Yigit
  • Ratchanok Intanon vs Iris Wang

Where to watch?

The matches start at 2:30 PM IST and will be telecast live on Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 2 HD TV channels in India and Disney+ Hotstar OTT platform.

Also Read: All England Open Championships: Three Indian shuttlers return negative COVID-19 tests; start delayed due to ‘inconclusive’ results