All England Championship: Sindhu moves into 2nd round

BIRMINGHAM: Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the second round of the women’s singles competition at the All England Championships after her German opponent Yvonne Li retired following the completion of the first game here on Tuesday.

World No. 11 Sindhu, a former world champion, won the first game 21-10 before world No. 26 Li decided to throw in the towel. The 28-year-old from Hyderabad will next face top seed Korean An Se Young, who has proved her nemesis, having defeated her all six times they have crossed paths in international badminton.

In fact, only once has Sindhu managed to take a game away from the world No. 1 Korean when they met last time at the Asia Championships in Dubai last year.

An Se Young, who is recovering from a right knee injury, secured her second title of the season at French Open last Sunday. Sindhu and Li seemed to have an initial battle when they were 4-4 but the Indian soon pulled away to grab a 11-7 lead at the break. She extended the advantage without much ado.

Eventually, a flick serve was dumped into the net by Li as Sindhu grabbed 11 game points and converted when the German went long.