In the All England Badminton Championships, which started on Wednesday amidst a coronavirus outbreak, Indian star badminton player PV Sindhu has defeated Beiwen Zhang of America 21-14 21-17 in the women's singles match to secure her place in the second round. The match between the two players lasted 42 minutes. At the same time, Kidambi Srikanth lost in the first round in the men's singles. In the match which lasted 43 minutes, he was defeated by Olympic champion Chen Long 21–15, 21–16. At the same time, in the mixed double match, the pair of N.Sikki Reddy and Pranav Chopra has also suffered a loss against China's Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong 21-13, 11-21, 21-17.
Indian star shuttler Sindhu, who won the World Championship gold last year, has not been able to win All England title so far. Former silver medalists Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will also try to make it to the top 16 in the rankings. The Olympic qualification deadline is 28 April. The last All England title for India was won by current head coach Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Sindhu lost to Beiwen Zhang of America in the semi-finals in 2018. Saina reached the finals in 2015. They are in dire need of ranking points.
In the first round, Saina has to face a tough challenge against Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. Srikanth will face the challenge of Olympic champion Chen Long to advance to the draw. Parupalli Kashyap will play against Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia in the first round. Lakshya Sen will face Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong.
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