New Delhi: London Olympics bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday opened her campaign at the Hong Kong Super Series on a positive note, prevailing over Aprilla Yuswandari of Indonesia in straight games to reach the second round of women's singles event.
The world number three took time to get into the groove but went from strength to strength as the match progressed to notch up a 22-20, 21-8 win over Aprilla at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon. Pranaav Chopra and Siki Reddy N also reached the second round with a 21-19, 21-15 victory over Phillip Chew and Jamie Subandhi of the USA in the mixed doubles competition.
Returning to action after skipping the China Open, Saina was equally good with her smashes and net play as the Indian registered as many as 15 smash winners and equal number of net winners in the 33-minute contest.
After gaining a narrow 3-1 lead early on, Saina lost the lead for a brief time when Aprilla went 8-6 ahead. However, the Indian restored her lead, moving to 14-10, before the Indonesian clawed back at 20-20. But Saina didn't give any chance to Aprilla after that and closed the opening game in her favour with two consecutive points....
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11:31 AM, Nov 21, 2012
New Delhi: After skipping the China Super Series Premier last week because of a knee problem, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal will now be back in action at the Hong Kong Open which begins from Wednesday. The world number three Saina, who recently won Denmark Super Series Premier and reached the final of French Open last month, will take on Aprilla Yuswandari in her campaign opener in the women's singles....
08:38 PM, Nov 20, 2012
