24 August,2022 07:48 AM IST | Tokyo | PTI
Saina Nehwal returns to Cheung Ngan Yi during their singles match in Tokyo yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
London Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal produced a fine performance to kick-off her BWF World Championships campaign with a straight game win over Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi here on Tuesday.
A former World No.1, Saina took 38 minutes to dispatch Ngan Yi 21-19, 21-9 in the opening round. Saina, 32, who has a silver and bronze from the Worlds, moved into the pre-quarterfinals as her second-round opponent, Nozomi Okuhara pulled out of the tournament due to an injury, giving the Indian a bye.
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The women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also made a winning start. The Indian duo hardly broke a sweat as it inflicted a 21-11, 21-13 defeat on Malaysians Yeen Yuan Low and Valeree Siow. Young women's pairing of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam also progressed to the second round after beating the Italian duo of Martina Corsini and Judith Mair 21-8, 21-14 in 30 minutes.
However, the mixed doubles pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan went down 10-21, 21-23 to Gregory Mairs and Jenny Moore of England. Men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala also crashed out, losing 14-21, 18-21 to France's Fabien Delrue and William Villeger.
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