Sameer, Lalita win first round of All England qualifier

Young Indian shuttlers Sameer Verma and Lalita Dahiya crossed the opening round of All England qualifiers in the men's singles and women's singles events respectively, here today.
While Sameer dispatched Indonesia's Ginting Anthony, seeded third, 21-17 21-13 in a 37-minute match, Lalita was given a walk over against Estonia's Kati Tolmoff and the Indian will take on Germany's Olga Konon next.
At the adjacent court, Ratchanok continued giving
badminton lessons to Sindhu, who seemed completely clueless about her strokes.
Ratchanok played with soft hands, using her drops and deceptive returns to great affect, while Sindhu committed far too many unforced errors to pose any kind of challenge to her opponent.

In the opening game, Ratchanok moved to a huge 15-4 lead after the Indian failed to come up with a strategy that could threaten the Thai girl. Sindhu was so off-colour that even a mid court smash, which Ratchanok had no way to return, she ended up hitting long. Another net error from Sindhu and Ratchanok earned the bragging rights.

The change of sides did not change Sindhu's fate as she continued to make unforced errors and Ratchanok once again went into the break 11-4.
Sindhu failed to decipher Ratchanok's game and also faltered with her strokes as the Thai reached 15-5 once again. Finally, a net error gave Ratchanok 13 match points. Sindhu then dictated terms in a rally to save a match point but Ratchanok closed the issue in the next chance with a smash.

Ratchanok will now take on Chinese sixth seed Wang Yihan in the semifinals.