Former World No.1 Saina beats Cheung 21-19, 21-9 to enter pre-quarters in Tokyo; Gayatri-Treesa advance too
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
Also Read: Saina Nehwal started it
Ashwini-Shikha enter Rd 2
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.
Gaurav Prasad-Juhi bow out
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.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
