Saina in third round of World Badminton

The sixth seeded Indian, who got a bye in the first round, took 26 minutes to go past Chloe. She will next take on 14th seed Pui Yin Yip of Chinese Taipei, who got the better of Li Michelle of Canada 23-21, 17-21, 21-17. Saina, whose best performance at the World's is a quarterfinal appearance, has beaten the Taipei player twice in three meetings.

In mixed doubles, Jwala Gutta and V. Diju, seeded 16th, also moved into the third round, beating Malaysian Jien Guo Ong and Sook Chin Chong 21-11, 21-15. They will next face England's fifth seeded Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen.

In men's singles, Parupalli Kashyap, who defeated Germany's Dieter Domke 21-13, 23-25, 21-11 in the first round, will take on Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen, seeded seventh in the second round.

The 16th seeded Indians, who got a bye in the opening round, had their nose ahead in the first game as from 9-7, they simply kept widening the gap by moving in giant strides.
The second game was a tooth and nail battle till 12-12 before the Indians grabbed four straight points to move ahead and register a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

"I am very happy with the game. The court was a bit slow so we had to hit lot many smashes in each rallies," said Diju.

"I am playing after a long time and I am happy with the way my body is responding. Tomorrow would be another tough day and I hope to do well," he added.

Last night, P Kashyap also made a winning start, defeating Germany's Domke Dieter in a hard-fought three-game affair to enter the second round of the men's singles here.
The Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Kashyap defeated Dieter 21-13 23-25 21-11 in a match that lasted close to an hour.

He will face seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam in the second round.
The world number 28 Indian, sent down as many as 10 smash winners to get an upperhand in the opening game.

Dieter came back in the second game, keeping pace with Kashyap all through before managing to sneak ahead in the closing stages.

But the recovery was short-lived as Kashyap once again relied on his smashes to outwit his spirited rival in the deciding third game. Kashyap also had better control of the proceedings, clinching 10 consecutive points at one stage of the game.