World Badminton Championships: Saina Nehwal made a great start, reached pre- quarterfianl match

World Badminton Championship : London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal made a stellar start to her campaign at the BWF World Badminton Championships by registering a straight game win over Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi here on Tuesday. Saina defeated Ngan Yi 21-19, 21-9 in 38 minutes in the first round match.

The 32-year-old, who won silver and bronze at the World Championships, has advanced to the pre-quarterfinals as her second-round rival Nazomi Okuhara withdrew from the tournament due to an injury. This gave Saina a ‘bye’.

Indian women’s doubles pair of Trisa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also started their campaign with a win. The Indian pair didn’t have much trouble to beat Malaysia’s Yen Yuan Lo and Valerie Seo 21-11 21-13.

However, the mixed doubles pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Devgan suffered a defeat. The Indian pair lost 10-21, 21-23 to Gregory Myers and Jenny Moore of England.