Indian juggernaut rolls on

Glasgow, August 23

The Indian juggernaut at the Badminton World Championships continued to roll as Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth entered the pre- quarterfinals here today. After Saina brushed aside the challenge of Switzerland’s Sabrina Jaquet in straight games, Praneeth survived a scare from Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Srikanth steamrolled France’s Lucas Corvee to stay in the hunt for a medal.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina hardly broke a sweat as she cruised past her Swiss rival 21-11 21-12 in just 33 minutes. “It was a tricky match. Sabrina is a formidable opponent but I am happy that I overpowered her,” said Saina. “It is always tough to play the first round but once you get used to the conditions, it gets better.”

World No. 8 Srikanth also dished out a clinical performance, beating Corvee 21-9 21-17 to set up a clash with 14th seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark. 

Earlier, Singapore Open champion Praneeth bounced back from a game down to outwit world No. 26 Ginting 14-21 21-18 21-19 in a contest that lasted 72 minutes. “It was a very tough match,” said Praneeth. “The shuttles were really slow, so the rallies went longer. I could not match him initially but slowly adjusted to his speed. He is a tough player and his game has improved a lot since I last played him.”

On Tuesday night, Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram played their heart out before going down 21-13 16-21 8-21 to Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of The Netherlands. The men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok also bowed out of the event after a 14-21 21-19 14-21 loss to the Chinese Taipei combination Liao Min Chun and Cheng Heng Su. — PTI