News Sports Other All England Championships: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth advance, Sameer Verma's challenge ends

All England Championships: Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth advance, Sameer Verma's challenge ends

World No.9 Nehwal went past the Scottish shuttler 21-17, 21-18 in the first round of women's singles.

All England Badminton Championships Image Source : TWITTER: @NSAINAWorld No.9 Nehwal went past the Scottish shuttler 21-17, 21-18 in the first round of women's singles.

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal made her way to the second round of the prestigious All England Championships by defeating Kirsty Gilmour in straight games.

World No.9 Nehwal went past the Scottish shuttler 21-17, 21-18 in the first round of women's singles.

The 2012 London Olympics Bronze medallist, who recently got married to shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, will face Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt in the second round on Thursday.

"I really enjoy a lot, it is something every player looks up to. The challenge is even tougher than regular Super Series events as everyone wants to have the trophy. You have to play your natural game to be the best and can't really put the pressure on yourself, 'that you have to have it'. If it is in your destiny then you will get it. The challenge is to give your best and beat the best players," Nehwal said after the match.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth also notched up straight game victory in the men's singles first round. ​Srikanth took half an hour to dispose off France's Brice Leverdez 21-13, 21-11.

In the next round, Srikanth will face Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie.

 

However, it was not a good day at work for the other Indian shuttler Sameer Verma, who went down fighting against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

Verma lost his men's singles first round clash 21-16, 18-21, 14-21 against the Dane.

Earlier, Indian star PV Sindhu crashed out in the first round following a hard-fought defeat to Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea.

Sindhu gave a tough fight before going down 16-21, 22-20, 18-21 in an hour and 20 minutes.

The Hyderabad shuttler blamed too many unforced errors for her shock first-round exit.

"There were too many points for me to cover and it was a good game overall. Maybe I should have controlled much more. It was just my bad luck and it was just not my day because my mid-court smashes were just going to the net. Overall, she played well," Sindhu said after the match.

B Sai Praneeth, however, advanced to the second round of the men's singles competition with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over compatriot HS Prannoy.