Olympic medalists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal crashed out in the second round as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the last eight stage at the All England Championships on Thursday.
World No. 7 Sindhu made an early exit after losing 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 to left-hander Takahashi 19-21, 21-16, 17-21 in the second round in one hour and six minutes.
Coming into the match with a 4–4 head-to-head record of the draw, Sindhu was left to act as the catch-up as Takahashi led the opening match for the most part, even though the Indian did. continued snapping at his heels and had scored at 11. -1 and 15-15 before going up to 19-20 in one leg.
Staggering from the reverse, Sindhu pulled out all cylinders blazing, for a massive 14-4 lead, a gap that the Japanese could not bridge as the Indian bounced back.
Sindhu managed to take a slim 8-6 lead in the decider, but Takahashi soon turned the tables and then jumped five straight to 15-10.
The Japanese easily sealed the conflict before Sindhu tried to erase the deficit and make it 17-18.
Sindhu had also crashed out of the German Open in the second round.
Saina Nehwal also crashed out in the second round after ending her heroic fight in a thrilling three-game match against second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.
Former world No. 1 Saina, London Olympic bronze medalist, lost to world No. 2 Yamaguchi 14-21 21-17 17-21 in a 50-minute women’s singles clash.
It was a much better performance from the Indian, who lost in straight games to Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand at the German Open last week.
The fifth-seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also advanced to the last eight stage with a 21-7, 21-7 win over Germany’s Mark Lamphus and Marvin Seidel.
Later in the day, World Championships silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth also crashed out of the second round after going down 21-9, 18-21, 19-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, which lasted more than an hour.
In a significant result, Tresa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also entered the quarterfinals when their sixth-seeded rivals Gracia Poli and Indonesia’s Apariyani Rahayu retired after going 14–19 in the second game after winning the first game 21–18. Got it.
Lakshya Sen, 20, from Almora, who won his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open in January and then reached the final of the German Open last week, scored a point. Upset win over 21-16 21-18 Over third seed Anton Antonsen. Antonsen is a two-time medalist at the World Championships in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva respectively. This was his first meeting at the international level.
Sen will face China’s Lu Guang Xu in the quarterfinals.
(with inputs from PTI)
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