Birmingham: Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal lost to World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the first round while Kidambi Srikanth advanced at the All England Open here on Wednesday.

Saina could not match up to the precision skills and the array of shots unleashed by Tai and bowed out of the meet going down 14-21, 18-21 in a match which lasted 38 minutes.

Third seed Srikanth, on the other hand, played brilliantly and and defeated Brice Leverdez of France 7-21, 21-14, 22-20.

After dropping a game, the Guntur player soaked up the pressure and bounced back in style to clinch the next two games.

In the women's doubles category, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy also lost their first round match to the Japanese duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi 14-21, 13-21 to crash out of the meet.

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Udhagamandalam: Fire and rescue services personnel freed eight tourists from Bengaluru who were stranded when their vehicle got stuck in stagnant rainwater near the Tamil Nadu Tourism Boat House on Monday, said an official.

Noticing the partially-submerged vehicle close to the boat house near the bus stand here, a few locals informed the fire department. Immediately, personnel from the department rushed to the place and set free all eight persons trapped in the vehicle, Ooty Fire Station officer Premkumar said.

The eight tourists were later lodged at a safe place. Their vehicle had to be tugged with the help of a rope and support from the public to pull it out of the water, he said.

The Nilgiris district has been experiencing torrential rain since morning. Incessant heavy rain for three hours inundated the Ooty Market, Boat House, and several low-lying areas.

The continuous downpour also brought down the temperature in this popular hill station.