Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal had no problems in dispatching her first round opponent at the All-England Championships. Reuters

Indians continued to drop out of the All-England Championships like nine pins, with the country's lone hope now existing in the form of Saina Nehwal, who cruised into the second round.

After P Kashyap and K Srikanth were knocked out of the prestigious badminton tournament at the first time of asking in the men's singles, PV Sindhu, the talented young Indian girl and world number 9, also bit the dust in the women's singles, going down 21-16, 21-15 to Sun Yu of China.

Mixed doubles pair Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa lost earlier on Wednesday, while Anand Pawar and Jwala Gutta/Ponnappa fell in the qualifiers, leaving Saina as the lone player to keep flying the flag for India.

Saina moved into the second round of the All-England Championships courtesy a straight-game 21-15, 21-6 victory over Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour, ranked No.20 in the world.

Saina next faces Beiwen Zhang of the US, after the American was given a walkover by Juliane Schenk.

The Hyderabad will look to go all the way in the tournament this year, after a rather disappointing last season.

"Like everyone I too want to win this title," Saina was quoted as saying by the Times of India. "I came close last year but missed it.

"Things have changed this year as many players are playing quite well. The draw too is tough but we know it's always difficult in such big tournaments."