Birmingham: Indian stars Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals of the women’s and men’s singles categories respectively at the All England Championship badminton tournament here on Thursday. Saina defeated Line Hjmark Kjrsfeldt of Denmark in a hard fought second round encounter.
Saina was off to a rough start but fought back from a game down before prevailing 8-21, 21-16, 21-13 in 51 minutes. Srikanth also faced a tough fight before defeating Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in an exciting three-game contest. The seventh seeded Indian won 21-17, 11-21, 21-12 in 58 minutes against the reigning Asian Games champion.
Sai Praneeth, the other Indian in the men’s singles competition, was not so lucky. He crashed out following a straight games loss to NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong in the second round. Praneeth was no match for his opponent, going down 21-12, 21-17 in just 35 minutes.
Earlier on Wednesday night, Saina Nehwal defeated Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland to advance to the second round of the women’s singles category. Saina registered a 21-17, 21-18 straight sets victory against the Scotland player on Wednesday night. The match lasted 35 minutes.
