All England Open: Sindhu suffers first-round loss against Zhang; Srikanth makes comeback win against Popov

The world number nine Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, lost 17-21 11-21 in the 39-minute women’s singles contest.

P V Sindhu in action. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV/The Hindu

There was no end to P V Sindhu’s poor run as the star Indian shuttler made a first round exit from the All England Championships after losing to Zhang Yi Man of China in straight games here on Wednesday.

The world number nine Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, lost 17-21 11-21 in the 39-minute women’s singles contest.

This is the third time that Sindhu has lost her first round match this year.

She had lost to Carolina Marin of Spain in Malaysia Open in January before exiting the Indian Open at the same stage in the same month.

She had recently parted ways with her coach Park Tae-sang of Korea, under whose guidance she won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu was rusty and subdued throughout the match with her world number 17 opponent showing more agility and attacking intent.

There was not much to differentiate initially between the two who had 1-1 head-to-head record before Wednesday’s match.

Sindhu led 6-5 and then made it 16-13. But the Chinese shuttler won seven straight points to lead 20-16 before taking the first game in 21 minutes.

In the second game, the two players were tied 5-5 but Sindhu committed a few unforced errors and was soon down 5-10.

Sindhu recovered a bit to trail 7-11 but was soon down 9-16 before losing the second game and the match.

Earlier during the day, India’s women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela stunned seventh seeded Thailand duo of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 21-18 21-14 in a 46-minute first round match.

The Indian duo will meet the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the pre-quarterfinals.

On Tuesday, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy had won their respective men’s singles first round matches.

Satwik-Chirag duo qualify

Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their first-round men’s doubles match at the All England Open as they beat the team of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala by a score of 21-13, 21-13.

Srikanth moves to next round

Despite losing the first game, India’s Srikanth Kidambi notched a comeback win of 19-21, 21-14, 21-5 against France’s Toma Junior Popov in his first-round men’s singles match.