All England Open: Sindhu cruises to second round

Birmingham [UK], March 17 (ANI): Ace India shuttler PV Sindhu on Wednesday cruised to the second round of the All England Open after a win over Malaysia's Soniia Cheah.
Sindhu overcame the first-round challenge as she won the clash 21-11, 21-17 in 39 minutes.
World number seven came out with all guns blazing and played the encounter in an attacking manner. Sindhu did not give any chance to her opponent to take the lead and easily claimed the first game.
However, the Malaysian tried to make a come back in the second game but Sindhu was in no mood of taking the match to the third game and maintained the lead despite the fightback from Cheah.
Earlier, the Indian men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankirerddy progressed to the second round of the All England Open.
The Indian duo comfortably defeated the inexperienced pair of England's Nikhar Garg and India's Aniruddha Mayekar 21-7, 21-10 in just 19 minutes. It was an easy clash for Shetty and Rankireddy which will boost their morale in the competition.
Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also cruised to the next round after beating Thailand's Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard in straight games. Indian duo outplayed them and clinched the clash 21-14, 21-12 in just 30 minutes.
India shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the competition after losing their respective first-round matches.
Ireland's Nhat Nguyen defeated Srikanth 21-11, 15-21, 21-12 in the first round while World number one Kento Momota defeated Kashyap in straight games 21-13, 22-20 in another first-round match.
Earlier in the day, Indian shuttlers were cleared to take part in the All England Open Badminton Championships 2021, after the players returned negative tests for coronavirus. India's badminton coach Mathias Boe on his Instagram story confirmed that there were no positive tests in the Indian contingent and the shutters were ready to take the field on Wednesday.
Three Indian shuttlers and one member of support staff had tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the tournament, Badminton Association of India (BAI) Secretary Ajay Singhania had confirmed. (ANI)