BANGALORE, MARCH 11: Srikant Bakshi was the lone survivor among Indian players after the first round of the All-England Centenary Badminton Championships at Birmingham on Wednesday. Bakshi beat world No 95 Paul Hinder in three games.A release from the Badminton Association of India here on Thursday said all the other Indians in the main draw, including National champions Pullela Gopi Chand and Aparna Popat, bowed out in the first round.World No 42 Gopichand lost to his lesser ranked opponent Xia Xuanze of China (world No 125) 13-15, 5-15 after leading 13-10 in the first game.Umpteen unforced errors proved costly for world No 65 Aparna, who lost to Korean Lee Kyung Won (world No 59) 6-11, 2-11.Nikhil Kanetkar caved in meekly against Ruud Kuitjen of Belgium 3-15, 3-15, while Abhinn Shyam Gupta ran out of steam against Colin Haughton of England 15-12, 3-15, 4-15.The doubles pair of Jaseel P Ismail and Vincent Lobo also lost to their German opponents.Sidek limps out: Malaysia's woes deepened today when their top player Rashid Sidek limped out of the second round. Seeded joint fifth, Sidek was up against England's Peter Knowles but had to pull out at the end of the second game with a torn calf muscle, when scores were level at one game each 12-15 15-13.It was the third big blow for Malaysia this week following the withdrawals of world ranked five and six respectively Ong Ewe Hock and Yong Hock Kin.Sidek had defeated China's Chen Hong 0-15, 17-14, 15-7 in the first round yesterday.No 1 seed Peter Gade Christensen overcame Indonesian Marleve Mainaky 15-12, 15-11 to book a place in the second round. Gade has topped the world rankings for almost a year but lost to Sun Jun in last month's Grand Prix final in Brunei. In the enforced absence of the Chinese, the 22-year-old Dane has a much clearer run to the final and is the one they all have to beat.Other results (prefix denotes seedings)Men (1st round): 3-Budi Santoso (Ina) bt Michael Beres (Can) 15-7 15-5; Hendrawan (Ina) bt Alexander Book (Fin) 15-7, 15-12; Indra Wijaya (Ina) bt Jim Ronny Andersen (Nor) 17-16 15-5; (2nd round): Colin Haughton (Eng) bt Martin Delfs (Den) 15-4 15-6; Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Den) bt Xia Xuanze (Chn) 15-11 15-11; 2-Fung Permadi (Tai) bt Ronny Agustinus (Ina) 15-10 15-7.Women (1st round): 1-Ye Zhaoying (Chn) bt Kara Solmundson (Can) 11-2 11-5.
