India’s Kidambi Srikanth lost to qualifier Zhao Junpeng of China 19-21, 21-19, 12-21 in the first round of the All England Open on Thursday. The first two games were incredibly tight but then Srikanth seemed to fall away in the third. There has been some talk of the slow shuttles, but Kidambi’s experience should have helped him deal with it.
Eighth seed Saina Nehwal beat defending champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to advance to the second round late on Wednesday night. Nehwal beat Okuhara 21-15, 21-14 and looked pretty comfortable while doing so. The former world No 1 improved her head-to-head record against the inconsistent Japanese star to 6-1.