London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championship with a commanding straight-game win over Natalia Perminova of Russia in women’s singles here on Tuesday.
Saina, seeded seventh, took just 31 minutes to dispose off Perminova 21-11, 21-9. The Indian had earlier got a bye in the first round.
Another Indian in the fray in women’s singles, 11th seed P V Sindhu, will take on Russia’s Olga Golovanova in the second round on Wednesday after she too got a bye in the opening round.
In men’s singles, Ajay Jayaram progressed to the second round after receiving a walkover from fourth seed Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Jayaram will next face Thai shuttler Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk, who defeated Scotland’s Kieran Merrilees 21-16, 21-17 in his opening round.
However, it turned out to be a disappointing outing for Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap as he crashed out in the first round of the men’s singles event after suffering a shocking defeat against Dieter Domke of Germany on Monday night.
The world number 27, who had clinched the biggest title of his career at Glasgow early this month, played his heart out before going down fighting 24-26, 21-13, 18-21 in a nerve-wrecking battle of attrition which lasted an hour and seven minutes.
The mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan crossed the opening hurdle, beating Brazilian combination of Hugo Arthuso and Fabiana Silva 21-12, 21-14.
The men’s doubles combo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar eked out a 21-19, 16-21, 22-20 win over Hong Kong’s Yun Lung Chan and Chun Hei Lee.
