Sindhu, Saina advance in All England Open Badminton Championships

Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu and H S Prannoy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the All England Open Badminton Championships at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham today. 

In Women's singles, 2015 finalist Saina Nehwal registered a comfortable 21-15, 21-14 win against defending champion Nozumi Okuhara in 38 minutes. Sixth seed Sindhu eased past Danish Mette Poulsen with a 21-10, 21-11 victory in just 29 minutes.

In men's singles, H.S. Prannoy defeated China's Qiao Bin 17-21, 22-20, 21-19 in an hour and 22 minutes. India's top-ranked men's



singles player Ajay Jayaram bowed out in the first round after losing 19-21, 13-21 to lower-ranked Huang Yuxiang. 

Kidambi Srikanth also exited the tournament after suffering a shocking 19-21, 21-19, 12-21 loss against Chinese qualifier Zhao Junpeng.In the men's doubles category, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy  lost to qualifying pair of Peter Briggs and Tom Wolfenden of England 19-21, 21-10, 18-21. The women’s doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram also lost to Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching and Wu Ti Jung 19-21, 12-21.