World Championship: Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth sail

Glasgow (Scotland): Saina Nehwal led the charge as Indian juggernaut continued to roll at the World Championship with Kidambi Srikanth and B. Sai Praneeth entering the pre-quarterfinals of singles events, here on Wednesday.

After Saina brushed aside the challenge of Sabrina Jaquet in straight games and Praneeth survived a scare from Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Srikanth steamrolled France’s Lucas Corvee to keep India in the hunt for a medal.

In women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy gave a mighty scare to Danish Olympic silver medallist duo of Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen before losing their second round match 22-24, 21-17, 15-21 to the second seeds.

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 I felt. Sabrina is a formidable opponent but I am happy that I overpowered her nicely in the match,” 12th seed Saina said after the match.

“I think it is always tough to play first round but once you get used to the conditions, it gets better and better,” she added.

Sung Ji Hyun defeated India’s Tanvi Lad 21-9, 21-19. The 2010 Commonwealth Games champion has a 7-2 head-to-head record against the Korean and most recently she beat her at the Australian Open in June.

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

Earlier, Singapore Open champion B. Sai Praneeth bounced back from a game down to outwit World No. 26 Indonesian Anthony 14-21, 21-18, 21-19 that lasted an hour and 12 minutes.

“It was a very tough match. The shuttles were really slow and so the rallies went longer. I was getting caught initially and he was playing very fast. 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. I am really happy to win and now I am focused on my next match,” said the World No.19 Praneeth.

On the adjacent court, Praneeth was facing the fire of Anthony, who cruised to a 8-0 lead and then jumped to a 16-6 advantage. The gap was too much for Praneeth to bridge as he lost the first game.

The Indian reached 7-4 and 11-9 advantage at the break. Leading 14-12, Praneeth had to take a medical timeout and when the game resumed, Anthony managed to grab a slender 16-15 lead. The Indian did not let the opportunity slip as he soon turned the tables.

In the decider, Praneeth opened up a 6-2 lead but Anthony managed to grab a 11-9 lead at the breather. After the interval, Anthony managed to surge to a 18-12 advantage.

But a gritty Praneeth erased a six-point deficit to grab two match point advantage at 20-18. But, the Indian sealed it next to reach the next round.

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.

Young men’s doubles pair of Arjun M. R. and Ramchandran Shlok also bowed out of the event after their fight ended in a 14-21, 21-19, 14-21 loss to Chinese Taipei combination Liao Min Chun and Cheng Heng Su.