All England update: Sindhu qualifies to main draw

PV Sindhu

National champion PV Sindhu joined compatriot Saina Nehwal in the main draw of the All England Open, winning her two qualifying matches on Tuesday. However, her other compatriots in the qualifying draw – Sourabh Verma and Guru Sai Dutt – could not manage to make it to the main draw.

Sindhu, top seeded in qualifying, beat Rena Wang of Malaysia in just over half and hour, 21-19 21-14, and then took slightly longer – 38 minutes – to overpower Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia, 21-14 21-18.

Meanwhile, fellow-national champ Sourabh Verma gave a terrific account of himself in a tough, three-set match against the highly-rated Hsuan Yi Hsueh of Taipei. Hsueh was pushed to the limit in a match that almost lasted an hour and eventually prevailed 22-20 20-22 21-16.

Guru Sai Dutt overpowered Vladimir Ivanov ofRussiain 34 minutes, 21-19 21-17, but couldn’t sustain the winning momentum and fell in a close match to Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia, 21-16 20-22 21-8. Guru had a comfortable lead in the second game at 18-8, but Feng fought hard and took the next ten points in a row. Guru recovered to keep his nose ahead, and although Feng saved one game point at 19-20, Guru took the next at 22-20.

However, the effort took its toll, and Guru succumbed without a fight in the third, 21-8.

Sindhu takes onTaipei’s exciting new prospect Tai Tzu Ying in the first round of the main draw on Wednesday – a day which will see several Indians in action.

Indians in action on Wednesday:

4-Saina Nehwal vs Sapsiree (Tha)

Jwala Gutta/ Ashwini Ponnappa vs Anneke Agustin/ Nitya Maheswari (Ina)

Diju/ Jwala vs Chan Peng Soon/ Liu Ying Goh (Mas)

Ajay Jayaram vs 2-Lin Dan (Chn)

Sindhu PV vs Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe)

Rupesh/ Sanave vs Kindervater/ Schoettler (Ger)