All England Badminton 2016: Indian Men's Campaign Comes to an End

Indian male shuttlers' campaign in the All England Badminton Championships 2016 came to an end on Friday with the trio of B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma making an exit in the second round of the singles event. (Nehwal Admits Pressure of Indian Expectations)

Praneeth, who had stunned two-time Olympic silver medallist and former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round, lost to Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark in a three-setter to bow out of the prestigious tournament. (Nehwal Returns After Injury Lay-off, Hopes For Better Show at All England)

The Indian raised hopes of another upset win as he took the first set but later fizzled out in the subsequent two to lose the match 21-12, 11-21, 16-21.

The highest ranked Indian, Srikanth was no match for fourth seed Kento Momota of Japan as he lost 10-21, 13-21 in a lopsided match.

Qualifier Sameer Verma put up a good fight before losing to eighth seed Tian Houwei of China in three games. Just like Praneeth, Verma took the first game but squandered the advantage as he lost 21-10, 12-21, 19-21.

With the exit of all the Indian male shuttlers, only top women's player Saina Nehwal still remains in the fray in the USD 550,000 tournament at the Barclaycard Arena.

P V Sindhu had crashed out of the women's singles in the first round itself.

The women's doubles team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had also made an exit in the opening round.