The Hindu : Sport : Saina Nehwal advances

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Thursday, Dec 07, 2006
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Sport - Sports : General

Saina Nehwal advances

Special Correspondent

DOHA: Saina Nehwal warmed up for the tougher challenges ahead with a 21-10, 21-6 victory over Nadeesha Dura of Sri Lanka in the first round of the women's badminton in the 15th Asian Games at the Aspire Hall here on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old Saina was drawn to take on the seasoned 21-year-old Erico Hirose of Japan in the round of 32.

In boxing, Dilbag Singh could not take on the fury of Hanati Silamu of China in the 69 kg category. The 25-year-old lost the bout in the second round as the referee stopped the contest. With a flurry of punches Silamu raced to a 28-8 lead forcing the referee to intervene.

In the snooker team semifinals, China proved too good for India. Ding Junhui beat Rupesh Shah 85-8, Liang Wenbo beat Yasin Merchant 60-41 and in the doubles, Ding and Tian Pengfei humbled Aditya Mehta and Yasin Merchant 78-0.

Yasin scrapes through

However, Yasin won his first round of snooker, 44-52, 63-27, 12-49, 38-60, 63-14, 63-51, 60-25 against Firas Kamel Shaba of Iraq. Manan Chandra had a much easier time as he got past Mubarak Al Owais of Kuwait 78-31, 87-12, 18-75, 85-6, 72-27.

In women's handball, India went down 19-56 to China.

Swimmers disappoint

In swimming, the Indians continue to hit the depth. Shikha Tandon was seventh in her heat in the women's 100-metre freestyle with a timing of 1:00.68.

In the men's 100-metre freestyle, Virdhaval Khade was fourth in his heat at 52.12 while Ankur Poseria was fifth in his heat at 53.22. In the men's 200-metre individual medley, Rehan Poncha clocked 2:13.14 to be placed seventh in his heat.

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