All England Championships: PV Sindhu crashes out at first hurdle

Birmingham, March 15

PV Sindhu’s poor run continued as the star Indian shuttler made a first-round exit from the All England Championships after losing to Zhang Yi Man of China in straight games here today.

The world No. 9 Sindhu, a double Olympics medallist, lost 17-21 11-21 in the 39-minute women’s singles contest. This is the third time that Sindhu has lost in the first round this year, having exited the Malaysia Open and the Indian Open at the same stage in January. She recently parted ways with her coach Park Tae-sang of South Korea, under whose guidance she won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu was rusty and subdued throughout the match, with her world No. 17 opponent showing more agility and attacking intent.

Srikanth wins

World No. 22 Kidambi Srikanth came from a game down to beat France’s world No. 25 Toma Popov 19-21 21-14 21-5 in the first round of the men’s singles event.

Earlier, India’s women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela stunned the seventh seeded Thailand duo of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18 21-14 in a 46-minute first-round match. The Indian duo will meet the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the pre-quarterfinals.