As the All England Championships got underway at Birmingham,India had a mixed Round 1.
World No.3 Saina Nehwal and World Championship Bronze medallists Jwala/Aswhini progressed to the second round,registering contrasting wins.Manu Attri and Sumeet Reddy brought more reason to cheer as they upset 7th seeded Chai B/Hong W in the first round.
But there was heartbreak as well with World No.5 K Srikanth,India’s best hope at the Championships went down 18-21,21-12,15-21 to Kenichi Momota. P.Kashyap also crashed out,losing tamely to Chou Tieng.
Rising star H.S.Prannoy pulled one back though, beating France’s Leverdez 16-21,21-8,21-18 to set up a Round of 16 clash with home favourite Rajiv Ouseph.
Meanwhile,title favourites Chen Long and Lin Dan survived scares in their 1st round encounters before scraping through to fight another day in the “mini-World Championships”.
This Superseries tournament is off to a flying start.
