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After Srikanth and Sai Praneeth made it into the 2nd round, only Saina Nehwal managed to make it to the 2nd round of the Super 1000 All England Open Badminton Championship played Birmingham on Wednesday. The biggest disappointment of the day was when the two-time World Championship silver medalists PV Sindhu was knocked out in the first round itself.
Sindhu lost to Sung J- Hyun in three gruelling sets. Indian star player started the first game on a positive note taking 6-4 lead. Both players fought for each point and Sung levelled scores at 8-8. At the interval, Sung led 11-8. After the interval, Sindhu came back strongly to level the score at 11-11. The Korean played aggressive badminton and won the first set 21-16.
In the second game, the match began with 24 rallies shot with PV Sindhu winning the point. Both players fought for each point. Sung was aggressive and did not allow the Indian to play her natural game. At the interval, Sung Ji-Hyun led 11-8. After the interval, the Korean continued to dominate and led 13-9. PV Sindhu came back strongly to level the score of 13-13. Sung had a 18-14 lead but the Indian saved four match points to level scores at 20-20 and won the second set at 22-20.
In the third and deciding game, both players fought for each right from the word go. From 7-9 down, sung took 7 points in succession to take a 14-9 lead. Sindhu tried her best to make a match out of it but lost the third set 18-21 to be knocked out in the first round itself. The match went for 81 minutes.
Also Checkout: All England Open 2020 Schedule
Saina Nehwal defeated Kirsty Gilmour in two straight sets 21-17, 21-18 to move into the 2nd round of the prestigious tournament. It was a dominating performance by the Indian who outplayed her opponent. She will take on Line Kjaersefeldt in the second round.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy fought valiantly before losing to Japan Yonemoto and Tanaka in three gruelling sets. The Indian pair played an aggressive game winning the first set 21-16.
In the 2nd game, both pairs fought for each point right from the word go. The Japanese pair held their nerves to win 2nd set 28-26. Yonemoto and Tanaka played aggressive badminton in the 3rd game and won it 21-16 to knock the Indian pair out.
The young Indian pair of Jakkampudi and PS. Ram lost in three gruelling sets to Bolotova and Davletova. Jakkampudi and Ram won the first set 21-18 before the Russian pair came back strongly to win the next two sets 21-12, 21-12 to move into second round.
