PV Sindhu enters second round after Li retires

Birmingham, March 12

Double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the women’s singles competition at the All England Championships after her German opponent Yvonne Li retired following the completion of the first game here today.

World No. 11 Sindhu, a former world champion, won the first game 21-10 before world No. 26 Li retired.

The 28-year-old from Hyderabad will next face top seed An Se Young. The South Korean has defeated Sindhu all six times they have crossed paths in international badminton. In fact, Sindhu managed to take a game away from the world No. 1 only once.

Aakarshi Kashyap could not cross the first hurdle after losing 16-21 11-21 to Yu Po Pai of Chinese Taipei.

In men’s singles, HS Prannoy was defeated 14-21 21-13 21-13 by Chinese Taipei’s Li Yang Su. Kidambi Srikanth was hammered 21-9 21-9 by reigning Olympics champion and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen.