Birmingham: Saina Nehwal, sailed into the quarter finals with a 21-16, 21-9 win over Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungphan in the second round of the All England Badminton Championship. The World No. 2 Indian, who is making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, had dispatched Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li of Canada 21-17, 21-12 in the opening round.

For two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu, it turned out to be yet another disappointing tournament as she lost 21-18, 17-21, 12-21 to Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand.

But the star for India on the opening day was Sai Praneeth as the Indian stunned fans around the world into silence, dumping Lee Chong Wei in the first round. In a match that lasted 50 minutes, Praneeth eked out a 24-22, 22-20 win over the three-time champion

The Malaysian legend inexplicably squandered huge leads of 11-3 and 15-7 in the opening game and 16-10 and 17-12 in the second game to succumb to a humiliating defeat at the hands of an unheralded Indian.

Lee had looked to have regained control with his clever tactical varieties when he advanced to lead 17-12 in the second game.

He also had game points at 20-19 in both games, with the first being foiled by Praneeth's diving defence and later missing his chance to take the match to a third by narrowly putting a smash wide.

Two rallies later, the 23-year-old from Andhra Pradesh took his first chance to win the match, making a sudden fast mid-court jab which forced Lee to block the shuttle long and caused Praneeth to hurl his racket away in joy.

"This is a big shock to me. I am very happy. I have been waiting for a big result like this. I got more confidence when I levelled the score 15-15 in the first game and I just kept playing my shots," said the 23-year-old Indian after snapping Lee Chong Wei's 21-match winning streak.

World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei, who has been in good form in recent months with three World Superseries titles and one Grand Prix Gold title to his name, said: "This is totally unexpected for me. I came here to win. Praneeth has improved a lot since we played in the Canada Open last year. I think he has a great future," said the 33-year-old.

"Maybe I have got a lot of pressure on myself to win this tournament. I made a lot of mistakes. Although I was also shocked at how well Praneeth played. But it is all a learning process. I am sad to lose at a tournament like the All England, but my aim is the Olympics," Lee added.

Praneeth will next take on Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, ranked 26th in the world. The Indian had retired midway in their only meeting in 2013 French Open.

The shock result will reverberate for some time.

"This defeat means a lot to Malaysia," said Hendrawan, the Malaysian national coach.

"Everyone has been putting pressure on him to win the (Olympic) gold medal. But this defeat means he is human." The upset also appears to open up an inviting opportunity for Kenta Momota, the fourth-seeded Japanese player who won the Super Series finals in Dubai in December, to go all the way to the final, though he struggled to beat Christie Jonatan.