Birmingham: The Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty started their campaign impressively by defeating three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan from Indonesia in straight sets with scores of 21-18, 21-14 at All England Open Championships here.
The pair, which is World No. 1 pair in doubles and seeded fourth at BWF Super 1000 tournment, will face Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana, also from Indonesia, in the second round.
Priyanshu Rajawat, meanwhile, faced defeat against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia in a closely contested match with scores of 21-19, 11-21, 21-9.
Lakshya Sen displayed good form in his first-round match against Magnus Johannesen from Denmark, winning comfortably with scores of 21-14, 21-14. He will now face another Danish shuttler Anders Antonsen in the second round.
In the women’s category, Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu advanced to the second round after her first-round opponent, Germany’s Yvonne Li, retired mid-match. She will face An Se-young in the next round.
Tanisha Castro and Ashwini Ponnappa, the Indian women’s doubles pair secured a victory against Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong China with scores of 21-13, 21-18.
The pair will play against Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu from China in the pre-quarterfinals.
Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda, unfortunately, were defeated by Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi with scores of 21-9 and 21-9.
Meanwhile, An Se-young, the world No. 1 in women’s singles, won her opening-round match against Hsu Wen-chi from Chinese Taipei, setting up a second-round clash against Sindhu.
