All England Open Badminton Championships is the oldest badminton tournament in the world and perhaps, the most decorated as well. Saina Nehwal, India’s badminton star bowed out of the competition as she left her first round match midway. She was trailing 8-21 and 4-10 when she was retired hurt. It was a regulation fore-hand pick to which Saina outstretched herself and in the process injured her hip. It was a sad end to one of India’s best badminton player.
On the other hand, PV Sindhu looks as sharp as ever. She defeated Soniia Cheah by 21-11, 21-17. She was extremely dominant in the first game but Cheah came back stronger in the second round. Sindhu’s next match is against Line Christophersen.
The men’s first round was more of a relief for the Indian contingent. Sameer Verma, Sai Praneeth, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy, all secured victories in their first round matches. However, Kidambi and Saina Nehwal’s husband Kashyap couldn’t prevail. The second round matches are set to take place on 18 March 2021.
Look at the full match schedule of all the Indian players in the All England Open Badminton Championships 2021:
Men’s Singles
HS Prannoy vs Kento Momota: 3.30 PM IST
Lakshya Sen vs Thomas Rouxel: 3.30 PM IST
Sai Praneeth vs Viktor Axelsen: 3.30 PM IST
Sameer Verma vs Anders Antonsen: 9.20 PM IST
Women’s Singles
PV Sindhu vs Line Christophersen: 8 PM IST
Men's Doubles
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty vs Kim Astrup/Anders Rasmussen: 8 PM IST
Women's Doubles
Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy vs (6) Gabriela Stoeva/Stefani Stoeva: 6.50 PM IST
Mixed Doubles
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa vs Yuki Kaneko/Misaki Matsutomo at 2.30 PM IST
Dhruv Kapila/Meghana Jakkampudi vs Niclas Nohr/Amalie Magelund: 9 PM IST
The men in the All England Open Badminton Championships are going to face a humongous task as all of them have matches against top seeds. It will be interesting to see who could prevail in the Round of-16. Meanwhile, Indonesia has withdrwawn from the tournament after the British authorities asked the players to isolate for 10 days after a person was found Covid-19 positive on the Indonesian players' flight. Indonesian Sports Minister Zainuddin Amali expressed his displeasure on the issue. "I urge the association to take measures so that we don't get treated this way. If we stay silent - like if we think there's indications of unfairness, injustice - and we ignore it, we'll be seen as weak," the minister added.
(All timings are subject to change based on the length of previous match. All timings for 18 March 2021)