All England Open 2024: Sindhu Through To Second Round After Opponent Retires; Srikanth, Prannoy Crash Out

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the women's singles competition, but HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Aakarshi Kashyap and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand pair all faltered in the opening round at the All England Open 2024 on Tuesday (March 12).

On Court 3 at the Arena Birmingham, former World Champion Sindhu won the first game 21-10 before her German opponent, world No. 26 Yvonne Li. decided to retire, paving the way for the Indian shuttler to the next round.

The 28-year-old from Hyderabad, who reached the French Open quarter-final last week, will next face top either seed Korean An Se Young or Chinese Taipei's Wen Shi Hsu in the second round on Thursday (March 14).

In the other women's singles opener, Aakarshi suffered a straight games loss to Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po by a scoreline of 16-21, 11-21 in just 37 minutes on Court 4.

In men's singles, it was yet another bad day in office for world No. 8 Prannoy, who suffered a second straight first round exit, squandering an opening game advantage to go down 21-14 13-21 13-21 to world number 32 Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei.

Srikanth, who is racing against time to make it to Paris Olympics, sunk without a trace against top seed and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen 9-21 9-21, leaving 2022 runner-up Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat as the only contenders in men's singles for the country.

Sen will face Denmark's Magnus Johannesen, and Rajawat will be up against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia in their opening round matches on Wednesday (March 13).

There was also disappointment in the doubles category late in the day on Tuesday (March 12) as Treesa-Gayatri pair went down in straight games 18-21, 12-21 in 43 minutes on court 1. However, there will be three doubles teams from the country in action on Wednesday (March 12).

Recent French Open champions and fourth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will open their campaign against top seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa and the Panda sisters Rutaparna and Swetaparna also will begin their All England Open Badminton Championships 2024 campaigns.