All England Championships: PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal Out, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty Win

Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal bowed out in the second round as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are through to the last eight stage at the All England Championships on Thursday.

World no 7 Sindhu made an early exit after going down 19-21 21-16 17-21 to left-handed Takahashi, ranked 13th, in an hour and six minutes second-round match.

Coming into the match with an equal 4-4 head-to-head record, Sindhu was left to do the catch up job as Takahashi led the opening match for most part even though the Indian kept snapping at her heels and had levelled scores at 11-1 and 15-15 before moving to 19-20 at one stage.

Stung by the reversal, Sindhu came out all cylinders blazing, gallping to a huge 14-4 lead, a gap which the Japanese couldn?t bridge as the Indian bounced back.

In the decider, Sindhu managed to open up a slender 8-6 lead but Takahashi soon turned the tables and then reeled off five straight points to jump to 15-10.

Sindhu tried to erase the deficit and made it 17-18 before the Japanese sealed the clash comfortably.

Sindhu had made a second-round exit at German Open as well.

Saina Nehwal also bowed out after her gallant fight ended with a loss to second seed Japanese Akane Yamaguchi in a thrilling three-game match in the second round.

Former world No. 1 Saina, the London Olympics bronze medallist, lost 14-21 21-17 17-21 world No. 2 Yamaguchi in a 50-minute women?s singles clash.

It was a much improved performance from the Indian, who had lost in straight games to Thailand?s Ratchanok Inthanon at German Open last week.

Fifth seeded Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also entered the last eight stage after making short work of Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel of Germany 21-7 21-7.

Later in the day, World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth also bowed out after losing 21-9 18-21 19-21 to Indonesia?s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a second round that last just over an hour.

In a significant result, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also entered the quarterfinal after their sixth seeded opponents Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu from Indonesia retired in the second game lagging 14-19 after winning the first game 21-18.

Lakshay Sen, the 20-year-old from Almora, who had claimed his maiden Super 500 title at India Open in January and then reached the finals of German Open last week, notched up an upset 21-16 21-18 win over third seed Anton Antonsen. Antonsen is a two-time medallist at World Championships in 2019 Basel and 2021 Huelva respectively. It was their first meeting at the international stage.

Sen will face China?s Lu Guang Zu in the quarter-final.

(With inputs from PTI)

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