Birmingham blues for 10 seeded players in All-England

PETALING JAYA: It was an opening day shocker in the All-England when 10 seeded players were sent packing in Birmingham.

Reigning 2016 Olympic Games men’s singles champion Chen Long, six-time winner Lin Dan and world’s top two men’s doubles pairs - Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon of Indonesia and Li JunhuiLiu Yuchen of China were among those eliminated early on Wednesday.

World No. 4 Chen Long failed to add his third title to his previous victories in 2013 and 2015 when he was stunned 15-21, 17-21 by Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke for the biggest upset of the day.

The 35-year-old Lin Dan’s poor form continued when he lost 21-19, 14-21, 7-21 to Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama - and based on his recent showing, he doesn’t look like he’s capable of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, let alone fight for his third gold.

In the men’s singles, world No. 3 Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan and world No. 5 Son Wan-ho of South Korea crashed out.

Men’s doubles hotshots, who captured 12 titles in the last 15 months, went down 19-21, 22-20, 17-21 to 2017 world champions Liu ChengZhang Nan of China.

The defeat saw Kevin and Marcus failed in their bid to become the first men’s doubles pair to secure three All-England titles on the trot since Indonesians Tjun Tjun-Johan Wahjudi’s feat of winning four successive titles from 1977-1980.

China will be relying on Liu Cheng-Zhang Nan to keep the flag flying after the loss of reigning world champions Junhui-Yuchen 21-18, 18-21, 22-24 to compatriots He Jiting-Tan Qiang.

The first day blues also hit the women’s singles as India’s P.V. Sindhu and Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon bowed out.

Sindhu, touted as a prospect to end India’s 18-year wait for an All- England title, went down 16-21, 22-20, 18-21 to South Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun while the 2015 world champion Ratchanok fell 21-23, 24-22, 14-21 - her first defeat in six meetings to China’s Chen Xiaoxin.

Second seeds Ayaka TakahashiMisaki Matsutomo lost 17-21, 21-10, 19-21 to South Korea’s Chang Ye-naJung Kyun-eun but three other pairs led by world No. 1 Yuki FukushimaSayaka Hirota are left from the Land of the Rising Sun to carry the nation’s challenge.