Impressive Saina enters quarters

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a straight-game victory over Chinese Li Han to advance to the quarterfinals of Thailand Grand Prix Gold on Thursday.

The World number five Indian rode on her smashes to see off Lan 21-17, 21-13 in 42 minutes at the CU Sport Complex. The other Indian in the women’s singles competition, P V Sindhu, however, lost to former World Champion Wang Lin 12-21, 23-25. In the men’s doubles competition, Sanjeeth S and Jagadish Yadav lost 12-21, 6-21 to Calvin Jia Hong Ong and Wee Gleen Tan of Malaysia.

Another Indian pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu also bowed out after a 22-24, 13-21 defeat to sixth seeds Ricky Karanda Suwardi and Muhammad Ulinnuha of Indonesia.
India’s women’s doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Prajakta Sawant also crashed out with a 19-21, 12-21 defeat to the Malaysian combo of Amelia Alicia Anscelly and Fie Cho Soong. Up against the top seeds Xia Huan and Jinhua Tang of China, the Indian pair of Aparna Balan and Siki Reddy N lost 10-21, 13-21.

In the men’s singles, Verma brothers -- Sourabh and Sameer -- reached the quarterfinals after notching up contrasting victories. Sourabh, seeded 12th, bounced back from a game down to see off seventh seed Indonesian Alamsyah Yunus 18-21, 21-13, 22-20, while Sameer Verma prevailed over Malaysian Teck Zhi Soo 21-18, 21-18.
Sai Praneeth B also played his heart out to edge past Choong Hann Wong of Malaysia 13-21, 21-18, 22-20 in a 55-minute match.