Saina and Prannoy through, Kashyap, Srikanth and Jayaram falter in All England opening round

Saina Nehwal

Star Indian shuttler and World No. 3 Saina Nehwal thrashed the Indonesian shuttler Bellaaetrix Manuputty 21-8 21-12 in the first round of the All Englan Badminton; the match lasted for just 38 minutes.

The 24-year-old Indian shuttler started the match with a bang as she took a strong seven-point lead in the initial part of the first game. This lead proved to be very crucial for the experienced Indian shuttler as she managed to hold on to it till the end and won the game with ease by a score of 21-8.

The story was almost similar in the second game as Saina reeled off five points in quick succession from 7 all. Trailing 12-7, Manuputty made a good comeback as she grabbed the next three points in a row to shorten the lead but Saina was in no mood to make the game any more interesting as she won next few points to pocket the game and hence the match.

Saina will now play the World ranked 48 Korean shuttler Kim Hyo Min to seal her place in last eight.

There was a huge disappointement in the men’s singles section as nation’s three top three players; Parupalli Kashyap, Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram lost in the opening round.

World No. 5 and China Open Superseries Premier winner Kidambi Srikanth went down to World No. 14 Japanese shuttler Kento Momota in a tough three game match.

Srikanth who had a win-loss record of 2-2 against Momota prior to this match lost the opening game 18-21. Srikanth however fought back strongly in the second and clinched the game 12-21. The third game was on level terms till 8-8 from when Momota scored four points quickly to lead 12-8. Leading by 20-15, Momota converted the first match point to draw the curatins on the challenge of the higher ranked Indian shuttler.

World No.12 Parupalli Kashyap lost to World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen of Taipei in a completely one sided affair. Kashyap, who won the Syed Modi International Grand prix gold title in January was absolutely no match to his higher ranked Taipei opponent as he lost 21-13 21-12 in just 33 minutes.

World No. 46 Ajay Jayaram showed some resistace against the World No 13 Chinese ace Houwei Tian but was not luck enough to edge past his rival as he lost to Tian 14-21 21-19 14-21 in a match which was played for an hour and three minutes.

H.S Prannoy was the lone Indian men’s singles shuttler,who progressed to the second round. The Indian number three and World No.18 prevailed over the World ranked 29 Dutch shuttler Brice Leverdez in the opening round.

Prannoy lost the opening game by a scoreline of 16-21 but he made a remarkable comeback in the next game as he didn’t gave his opponent even a single chance to come close.

The 22-year-old Prannoy dished out a dominating performance in the second game as he opened up a to 8-2 lead early on and then kept increasing the distance. Leading by 17-8, Prannoy clinched the next four points in a row to take the game 21-8.

Both the players started the decider on a positive note as they were fighting hard for each and every point but Prannoy changed his gears after the mid game interval as he won five points quickly when the scores were 15-12.

Trailing by 12-20 Leverdez made a strong return as he saved six match points but the Indian grabbed the seventh opportunity to seal the door on his opponent.Prannoy will next play the World ranked 22 English shuttler Rajiv Ouseph for a place in quarters. Ouseph caused a huge upset as he stunned the world No. 4 Wan Ho Son of Korea 21-16 18-21 21-19 in the opening round.