Sindhu, Saina, Srikanth enter Round 2 of the All England Open 2022

Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand registered an upset to qualify for the next stage of the event.

The All England Open began in full swing on Day 1. The Indian players sought to make a positive start in the tournament. Some young players also made their debut at the BWF Super 1000 event. Some shuttlers managed to make promising starts while the others faltered, opening doors to early exits.

Men's Singles

World Championships 2019 bronze medalist Sai Praneeth and Sameer Verma made early exits from the All England Open.

Sai Praneeth was up against reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the opening encounter. Axelsen took an early lead and dominated for most of the opening game. However, the World No. 19 gave a fightback and closed the gap of points, but couldn’t make it in the end and lost the first game. The second game proved to be a smooth ride for the World No. 1, as he won the match 22-20, 20-11.

Sameer Verma also made his way out of the tournament after losing to Dutchman Mark Caljouw in two straight games. Sameer didn’t seem to find any answers to Caljouw’s steep attacks and was never in the match, losing 21-18, 21-11.

Medal hopefuls Srikanth Kidambi and Lakshya Sen began the All England Open 2022 on winning notes. Kahsyap came through in a one-sided affair against Kantaphon Wangcharoen, winning the match 21-18, 21-14. On the other hand, Lakshya Sen also won his match against compatriot Sourabh Verma comfortably by 21-17, 21-7.

Parupalli Kashyap lost in a thrilling encounter against Olympic bronze medalist Anthony Ginting. The Indian shuttler lost the first game, but gave a fightback in the second to keep his hopes alive. However, the Indonesian scored consecutive points at the end, winning the match 21-11, 21-18.

Ace shuttler H.S. Prannoy lost out in a nail-biting encounter to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn in a straight games affair by 21-15, 24-22.

Women's Singles

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu won her first clash at the All England Open in fine fashion against the Chinese Wang Zhiyi.

Sindhu started off aggressively to take an early advantage. However, there was a desperate attempt by the Chinese youngster, as she sought to bridge the gap. But, her efforts were in vain, as Sindhu closed out the opening game in her favour. The second game saw Sindhu easily outplaying her opponent, as she closed the game 21-18, 21-13.

On the other hand, former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal clinched a victory against Spaniard Beatriz Corrales. Saina won the first game after a fightback from the Spaniard 21-17. In the second game, the Indian took hold of the match, turning the result into her favour by 21-17, 21-19.

Debutant Aakarshi Kashyap also lost in the first round against Canada’s Michelle Li by a score of 18-21, 18-21.

Doubles

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had an easy win against the Scottish pair of Alexander Dunn and Adam Hall by 21-19, 21-17 at the All England Open 2022. However, Arjun M. R. and Dhruv Kapila went down fighting against No. 2 seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-15, 12-21, 18-21.

The pair of Ashwini Ponappa and N. Sikki Reddy crashed out from the opening round at the hands of Japanese Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in straight games.

However, there was a major upset by the young guns Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, as they won against the Thai pair of Nuntakarn Aimsaard and Benyapa Aimsaard. They won against the India Open 2022 champions in a thrilling encounter, which ended in a score of 17-21, 22-20, 21-14.

The young debutants Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto were handed a loss by the Indonesians Praveen Jordan and Melati Oktavianti, 14-21, 13-21.

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