Birmingham, 17 March Women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are the only Indians to reach the quarter-finals of the All England Open as compatriots Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a loss in their respective second-round matches, here.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Gayatri and Theresa defeated former world number one Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota of Japan 21-14, 24-22 in 50 minutes in Thursday night’s round of 16.
The world number 17 will now face world number 23 Liu Xuanxuan/Li Wenmei of China in the quarter-finals.
However, last year’s runner-up Lakshya Sen missed the men’s singles event after losing in straight sets to Denmark’s Anders Antonsen at the Utilita Arena.
World No. 19 Sen started the match on a positive note, but once the two badminton players tied at 11-11, two-time World Championship medalist Antonsen upped the ante, winning 10 of the next 12 points. points and lead 1-0.
World Championships bronze medalist Sen staged a comeback on the second break to hold a six-point lead over Anders Antonsen. However, a series of scoring streaks put the Dane ahead and won the game 21-13, 21-15 in 52 minutes.
At the same time, Chiragshetty/Rankireddy lost 10-10, 17-21, 19-21 to Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang of China who were in good form in the men’s doubles.
Other Indian players HS Prannoy, ranked ninth, and former world number one Kidambi Srikanth also lost in the men’s singles round of 16. Pranoi lost 20-22, 21-15, 17-21 to world No. 3 Indonesian shuttler Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. World No. 22 Srikanth lost 17-21, 15-21 to world No. 6 Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
–IANS
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