Srikanth, Kashyap suffer early exits in All England

Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy beat Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand in straight games, 21-14 21-12.

Birmingham: India's contingent suffered early blows after Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost their opening round men's singles in the prestigious All England Badminton Championships on Wednesday.

However, the silver lining came in Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy who beat Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard of Thailand in straight games, 21-14 21-12. The women's doubles match lasted 30 minutes.

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Srikanth, who is seeded eighth, was beaten by unseeded Irish player Nguyen Nhat. The scorecard read: 11-21 21-15 12-21. The match lasted an hour after the Ireland player made a strong comeback after his loss in the second game against Srikanth.

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Against top seeded Kento Momota, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kashyap showed fight in the second game but couldn't sustain for longer as he lost to the Japanese 13-21 20-22.