The biggest upset on Day 1 of the main draw of the All England Championships came at the fag end of the day when unseeded Indian Sai Praneeth defeated the second seed and former winner Lee Chong Wei in straight games 24-22 22-20 to knock the Malaysian out of the competition.
Reacting to the defeat, the former World No.1 expressed shock and praised Sai for his performance.
“I can’t believe I lost in the first round. Maybe I have got a lot of pressure on myself to win this tournament. I made a lot of mistakes. Although I was shocked at how well Praneeth played,” he said.
Prior to his win, Saina Nehwal, playing her 1st competitive match of 2016 defeated the reigning Commonwealth Games Gold medalist Michelle Li in straight games 21-17 21-12.
Kidambi Srikanth also had a good start to the competition, as he went past hometown favourite Rajiv Ouseph in straight games 21-17 21-12. Sameer Verma, who had come into the main draw after putting in two good performances in the qualification, defeated Hu Yun of China convincingly, 21-10 21-14
The day, however, started off on a disappointing note for the Indians, with both the doubles contenders- Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa as well as Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy losing their respective opening round matches.
PV Sindhu, who had come into the competition with a decent run of form, also suffered an opening round loss as did Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy to round off a mixed day for India.
Here are the full results:
Men’s Singles
Sai Praneeth beat Lee Chong Wei 24-22 22-20
Kidambi Srikanth beat Rajiv Ouseph 21-17 21-12
Sameer Verma beat Hu Yun 21-10 21-14
NG Ka Long Angus beat Ajay Jayaram 21-18 19-21 21-19
Xue Song beat HS Prannoy 22-20 21-15
Women’s Singles
Saina Nehwal beat Michelle Li 21-17 21-12
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk beats PV Sindhu 18-21 21-17 21-12
Men’s Doubles
Kien Keat Koo/ Boon Heong Tan beat Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy 16-21 21-13 21-15
Women’s Doubles
Samantha Barning/Iris Tabeling beat Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa 26-24 21-17
