All England Open: Sai Praneeth stuns World No.2 Lee Chong Wei to enter second round

All England Open: Sai Praneeth stuns World No.2 Lee Chong Wei to enter second round

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Image Courtesy: © Facebook - Sai Praneeth

Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth ousted three-time champion Lee Chong Wei in straight sets in the first round of the All England Open on Wednesday to register the upset of the tournament. Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma also entered the second round, while PV Sindhu crashed out.

Ranked no.37th in the world, Sai Praneeth went into the match against World No.2 Lee Chong Wei expecting a hammering after losing four times in the past to the Malaysian. But it turned out to be a totally different story as the Hyderabad lad stunned the former all England champion in straight sets to move to the next round.

It all started in a routine fashion, the Malaysian ace looked the best on the court in the initial exchanges and raced to a 15-7 lead to leave the Indian to do all the hardwork in the opening game. But Praneeth had read a different script, and mounted a comeback by winning eight points in a row to level things up at 15-15. Both players matched each other point for point from there on in a race to win the first game. Although, Praneeth failed in his first two attempts to finish the game, he took the third game point to win 24-22.

Everyone expected a big comeback from the World No. 2 in the second game, and he once again led the game for the most parts and looked on course for a victory with a 17-12 lead. As was the story in the first game, Praneeth pocketed four points in a row and caught up with the champion at 19-19. Although Chong Wei had a chance to seal the second game in his favour, the never-say-die attitude of the Indian saw him saving the game point before jumping ahead to claim it 22-20.

The win for Praneeth also marked the end of a 21-match winning streak for the Malaysian ace, who had won four titles since October. Sai Praneeth will next face World No. 23 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus from Denmark on Thursday.

World No. 10 Kidambi Srikanth also entered the second round on Wednesday by defeating Rajiv Ouseph 21-17, 21-12 to set up an encounter with World No.3 Kento Momota of Japan.

Junior World No. 1 Sameer Verma, who came through the qualifiers, also joined Srikanth and Praneeth in the second round of Men’s Singles after defeating Hu Yun 21-10, 21-14. He will next face eighth seed Tian Houwei from China.

In the Women’ Singles, World No.2 Saina Nehwal made a successful return from injury to register a comfortable victory over Michele Li from Canada. The Indian looked in good rhythm from the start and led from the start to race to an 18-11 lead. Although, Saina wasted three chances to finish the first game, she took the fourth chance and won it 21-17.

After losing the first game, Michele Li raced off her blocks in the second game and took a 7-4 lead against the 2012 Olympics bronze medallist. But the Canadian’s challenge fell by the wayside as Saina progressed steadily to take the second game 21-12 to finish the second game. The 25-year old will next face Busanan Ongbumrungpan in the second round on Thursday.

However, on the whole it was a mixed day for the Indian contingent with HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram and PV Sindhu crashing out of the tournament. Prannoy was defeated by Xue Song from China 20-22, 15-21, while Jayaram lost a tight encounter against Angus Ng Ka Long 18-21, 21-19, 19-21.

PV Sindhu also bowed out of the tournament after a defeat against Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 21-18, 17-21, 12-21.

The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa and the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also bid goodbye to the tournament after suffering first round defeats.

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