Jakarta: Olympic medalist Saina Nehwal sailed into the pre-quarterfinals of women’s singles with a comfortable straight-game victory but it was heartbreak for Parupalli Kashyap in men’s competition on Wednesday in the World Badminton Championships here.
Brother – HS Prannoy Kidambi Srikanth and – so did the pre-quarterfinals with straight set victories.
The second-seeded Saina, who got a bye in the first round, had an easy start to his campaign when he took just 34 minutes to beat Hong Kong Cheung Ngan Yi 21-13 21-9 in a match of the second round.
The Indian world number two won a total of 42 points, compared to only 22 for his opponent. Saina soon assume the fourth seed, Sayaka Takahashi of Japan. It was a dominating performance by Shuttler Hyderabad and after taking a 6-1 lead in the first game, there was no turning back. Saina just kept popping up in front to complete the opening game 21-13.
The second game was also on similar lines as Saina never let his opponent come even close to it. It was a matter of time before she sealed 21-9. World No. 3 Srikanth, who won the Super Series India this year, defeated Chinese Taipei Jen Hao Hsu 21-14 21-15, while the world No. 12 Prannoy beat Uganda 21-14 21-19 in Edwin Ekiring another lopsided contest.
Third seed seed Srikanth take 13 Hu Yun Hong Kong, against whom the Hyderabadi has a record of 2-0, while 11th seed Prannoy has a tough task ahead as he faces the Danish Viktor Axelsen. The world No. 7 Prannoy hit twice in the last two games.
The Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap, seeded tenth, played out of his skin, but could not get past age 32, Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, losing 21-17 13-21 18-21 in a hard meeting that lasted one hour and five minutes.
It was not good news for the year 2011 World Championship bronze medalist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa as 13 seeds beat Chinese Taipei pair of Pei Chen Hsueh Wu Ti Jung 21-10 and 21-18 in doubles competition of the woman.
The Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medalists eighth seed Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda of Japan will face in the pre-quarterfinals. Among other Indians in Battle, double combo Women sikki Pradnya Gadre and N Reddy suffered a 19-21 17-21 loss to 14th-seeded Japanese combo of Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar down 12 16 to 21 -21 to the Danish Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding in the doubles event of the men.
