Saina Nehwal retires from All England Championship in women’s singles first round
- Saina Nehwal was trailing 8-21, 4-10 when she retired
- Saina finished second best at the All England Championships in 2015
- The former world no 1 complained of discomfort in her right thigh
India’s Saina Nehwal was forced to pull out of the All England championship after she sustained an injury in her opening women’s singles round against seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. Trailing behind in the match, Saina complained of discomfort on her right thigh and then decided to retire. The scoreline read 8-21, 4-10 in favour of Blichfeldt when the Indian conceded.
In the men’s singles tie, four Indian shuttlers, including B Sai Praneeth advanced to the second round of the tournament.
In men’s singles, world no 15 Praneeth saw off France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-18 22-20, while HS Prannoy, a former top 10 player, brushed aside Malaysia’s Daren Liew 21-10 21-10.
Sameer Verma also got the better off Brazil’s Ygor Coelho 21-11 21-19, while teenager Lakshya Sen stunned Thailand’s world no 18 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-18 21-12 to make it to the second round.
Prannoy and Praneeth, however, have a tough task at hand as they take on world no 1 Kento Momota and world no 2 Viktor Axelsen in the second round on Thursday.
In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy went down 15-21, 17-21 to Denmark’s Rasmus Espersen and Christine Busch in the opening round.
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu will also be seen in action later in the day against Denmark’s Line Christophersen.
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