Sourabh Verma reaches second round of qualifiers in All England

Birmingham: Rising Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma kept his hopes of reaching the main draw of All England Championship alive after notching up a hard-fought victory in the first round of the qualifiers on Tuesday.

But it was curtains for compatriots Anand Pawar and RMV Gurusaidutt as they lost their respective first round matches. World number 43 Sourabh prevailed over Brice Leverdez of France 22-20 23-21 in a 40-minute battle and will take on Rajiv Ouseph, the top seed in the qualifiers, in the second round for a place in the main draw.

It was England's Rajiv, who punctured Anand's campaign after pulling off a thrilling 22-20 21-23 7-21 victory over the Indian in the first round of the qualifiers. RMV Gurusaidutt also crashed out after a 17-21 21-13 10-21 defeat to Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in another match.

Sourabh prevailed over Brice Leverdez 22-20 23-21 in a 40-minute battle and will now take on Rajiv Ouseph in 2nd Rd

Among other Indians, men's doubles combination of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu lost to Thai pair of Bodin Issara and Pakkawat Vilailak 16-21 18-21, while Sang Joon Lee and So Young Kim defeated Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan 19-21 21-9 21-19 in mixed doubles competition.

Women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa also reached the second round of the qualifiers after beating Wales combo of Sarah Thomas and Carissa Turner 21-8 21-12, while Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre too stayed afloat after a 21-12 21-13 win over Chia Bin Lu and Ya Lan Chang in another mixed doubles pair. Top Indian stars, including Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap, will start their campaign when the main draw begins tomorrow.

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