Badminton: Saina Nehwal stuns China’s Jiao in Singapore Open

Saina Nehwal

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal showed signs of regaining her form with a sensational win over Chinese World No.9 He Bing Jiao in the Singapore Open here on Thursday.

The two-time Commonwealth Games gold winner joined compatriots PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Saina, a London Olympics bronze medallist, prevailed 21-19, 11-21, 21-17 over the fifth seeded Chinese to make the last eight stage. It will be her first appearance in quarter-finals of a Super 500 event in over two and a half years.

She will meet Japan's Aya Ohori next.

The Hyderabadi has been battling a series of injuries and lack of form in the past few years, which forced her to skip the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games, in April.

PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy

In the last three years, Saina's best performance had been a semi-final finish at Orleans Master Super 100 last year. She had also reached the quarter-final stage at Malaysia Masters and Barcelona Spain Masters in 2020.

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Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu and in-form Prannoy also stormed into the quarter-finals after registering fighting wins.

Third seed Sindhu staved off a spirited challenge from Vietnam's World No.59 Thuy Linh Nguyen 19-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the women's singles competition to set up a clash with China's Han Yue.

Prannoy, ranked World No.19, notched up his second win in three weeks over World No.4 and third seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 14-21, 22-20, 21-18 in an hour and nine minute contest.

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