ProMASS News Bureau: Mar 10, 2016:
India had a mixed day in the opening round of All England Open Badminton tournament in Birmingham yesterday. While Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth and K. Srikanth won their respective matches, star player P.V. Sindhu, H S Prannoy and the Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa pair couldn’t get through first round itself.
In the Men’s section, unseeded Sai Praneeth held his nerves to beat tournament’s second-seed and three-time champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia by 24-22, 22-20 in the day’s biggest ouster. K. Srikanth cruised past local boy Rajiv Ouseph 21-17,21-12 in 38 minutes. Another Indian Sameer Verma won his first round match while HS Prannoy and Ajay Jayaram couldn’t get through.
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Among women, Second seed Saina got better off Michelle Li of Canada beating her 21-17,21-12. Earlier yesterday, Sindhu could not withstand spirited fightback by Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk and lost the match 18-21,21-17,21-12. While in doubles, the Gutta and Ponappa pair fought hard but ultimately went down 24-26, 17-21 to dutch pair of Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling.
