All England Open Badminton: PV Sindhu stunned by Zhang Yi Man in first round
The two-time Olympic medallist lost to the Chinese shuttler in straight games. Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy progressed in doubles.
Badminton
Former world champion PV Sindhu’s poor form continued as she lost to Zhang Yi Man of China in the opening round of the All England Open 2023 women’s singles at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham on Wednesday.
PV Sindhu, world No. 9 in badminton rankings, lost to the world No.17 Chinese shuttler 21-17, 21-11 for her third first-round exit of the year. The two-time Olympic medallist also crashed out early from the Malaysia Open and India Open earlier in January.
Playing against the drift, PV Sindhu started the match with a measured approach and held the upper hand with a three-point lead at 16-13. However, Zhang Yi Man, a world championships bronze medallist, unleashed a few powerful cross-court smashes to claw her way back into the match and take a 1-0 lead.
The Indian badminton player, playing her first match after parting ways with her long-time coach Park Tae-Sang last month, struggled to lift her game after the change of ends. Zhang Yi Man opened a four-point lead at the interval and built on it to seal the match in 39 minutes and progress to the second round of the BWF Super 1000 event.
In the women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, who were also the semi-finalists at the All England Open last year, defeated the seventh-seeded Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18, 21-14 in 46 minutes.
This was the Indian pair’s first win over the Thai pair, having lost all the previous four matches last year.
Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam, the other Indian pair in women’s doubles, went down against the Korean pair of Ha Na Baek and So Hee Lee 21-9, 21-8.
In men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy defeated Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala 21-13, 21-13. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to Xiang Yu Ren and Qiang Tan 21-16, 21-15.
In men's singles, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth scripted an impressive comeback to beat French shuttler Toma Junior Popov 19-21, 21-14, 21-5 and progressed to the round of 16. HS Prannoy and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen progressed to the second round on Tuesday.