P.V. Sindhu began her quest for a maiden All England crown with a straight-game win over Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah here on Wednesday. The World champion, seeded fifth, won 21-11, 21-17 in 39 minutes.
However, K. Srikanth and P. Kashyap suffered early exits in men’s singles. Seeded eight, Srikanth lost to to the unseeded Nguyen Nhat of Ireland 11-21, 21-15 12-21 in exactly one hour, while top seed Kento Momota of Japan dispatched Kashyap 21-13, 22-20 in 42 minutes.
Doubles teams advance
The duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and N.Sikki Reddy got the better of Thailand’s Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-14, 21-12 in a women’s doubles opener.
The men’s pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy also progressed after getting the better of England’s Nikhar Garg and India’s Aniruddha Mayekar 21-7, 21-10 in just 19 minutes.
In another match, Dhru Kapila and M.R. Arjun went down 13-21, 12-21 to the Malaysian pair of Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo.
Earlier, the Indian contingent was cleared to participate after the players who had tested positive for COVID-19 returned negative in retests conducted by the governing body (BWF) on Wednesday.
