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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Mumbai (PTI): Aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday eased the flight duty norms by allowing substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period amid massive operational disruptions at IndiGo, according to sources.

As per the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, "no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest", which means that weekly rest period and leaves are to be treated separately. The clause was part of efforts to address fatigue issues among the pilots.

Citing IndiGo flight disruptions, sources told PTI that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to withdraw the provision 'no leave shall be substituted for weekly rest' from the FDTL norms.

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"In view of the ongoing operational disruptions and representations received from various airlines regarding the need to ensure continuity and stability of operations, it has been considered necessary to review the said provision," DGCA said in a communication dated December 5.

The gaps in planning ahead of the implementation of the revised FDTL, the second phase of which came into force from November 1, have resulted in crew shortage at IndiGo and is one of the key reasons for the current disruptions.