New Delhi: Saina Nehwal, Aditi Mutatkar advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles, while P Kashyap kept the tri-colour fluttering in the men's singles event of the Asian Badminton Championship here on Wednesday.
Ace Indian mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju also entered the pre-quarterfinals after beating Hong Kong duo of Wai Hong Wong and Hoi Wah Chau 21-13 21-12.
In the women's singles, top seed Saina crushed Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand 21-10 21-13 in 24 minutes to set up a date with Julia Pei Xian Wong of Malaysia in the pre-quarters on Thursday.
"I have played her before and even lost to her close match but I didn't expect it will be so easy today. My strokes have improved and my defense was also good today," Saina said after the victory.
"I am playing Julia next and she is also a good player and I have lost against her once and have defeated her also in 2006 Phillipines Open. She is coming from injury so she won't be in her top form," added Sania about her next encounter.
Aditi saw off Singaporean Mingtian Fu 21-11 17-21 21-18 in the first round to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei's Hsiao Huan Chen.
Aditi said she was desperate for a win and it has given her a lot of confidence.
"I had my rehabilitation in Pune and it was very important for me to keep winning. This win has been very encouraging for me as I move ahead to the next round. I am not looking into the future. I just want to take each round, each tournament at a time. The competition here is tough so it will be difficult," she said.
Meanwhile in men's singles category, Kashyap was the lone Indian standing after he won both his matches of the day to reach the last 16 stage.
The Andra Pradesh lad defeated Hong Kong's Wing Ki Wong 21-14 21-15 in the first match before beating Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-14 21-16 in the next.
Comments
0 comment