Defending Champion India faces Thailand in their Thomas Cup Opener.
While the Thomas Cup is the world badminton team championship for men, the Uber Cup is the women’s version. Both championships are held simultaneously biannually.
NEW DELHI, MARCH 13: Two-time Olympic medalist P V Sindhu progressed to the second round of the All England Open badminton tournament after her opponent Yvonne Li retired hurt at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
However in the Men’s section it turned out to be a poor day for India as the country’s two leading players K Srikanth and HS Prannoy crashed out after losing their first round matches.
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World No. 11 Sindhu won the first game 21-10 before Li, ranked 28th in the world, decided to throw in the towel.
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The 28-year-old Sindhu, who made the French Open quarter-finals last week, looked comfortable against her opponent.
Sindhu will now take on the winner of the clash between world No. 1 An Se-young o Korea and Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Wen-chi.
A clash against Se-young may pose a significant challenge for Sindhu, who has lost all six of her matches against the Korean in international badminton.
In fact, the Indian has only managed to win one game against Se-Young, when they last met at the Asia Championships in Dubai last year.
Meanwhile, Aakarshi Kashyap was knocked out in the first round by Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu-po. Ranked World No. 30, Yu-po won the match 21-16, 21-11
HS Prannoy suffered a shock loss at the hands of world No. 32 Su Li-yang. Prannoy, ranked seventh, squandered a lead and went on to lose the match 21-14, 13-21, 13-21.
This was Prannoy’s fourth first-round exit in five BWF World Tour events the year. His best show this season has been a semi-final finish at the Indian Open Super 750 in front of his home crowd back in January.
Kidambi Srikanth who was up against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen. The Danish player eased past the 16th-ranked Srikanth 21-9, 21-9 in a brief 33-minute encounter.
Treesha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited after losing 21-18, 21-12 to Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia in women’s doubles.
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