London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stormed into the third round of the World Badminton Championship with a commanding straight-game win over Natalia Perminova of Russia in the women’s singles here on Tuesday.
Saina, seeded seventh, took just 31 minutes to dispose of Perminova 21-11, 21-9.
The Indian had earlier got a bye in the first round. Another Indian in the fray in women’s singles, 11th seed P.V. Sindhu will take on Russia’s Olga Golovanova in the second round on Wednesday after she too got a bye in the opening round.
In men’s singles, Ajay Jayaram also progressed to the second round after receiving a walkover from fourth seed and higher-rated Kenichi Tago of Japan.
However, it turned out to be a disappointing outing for Commonwealth Games gold medallist P. Kashyap as he crashed out in the first round of men’s singles after suffering a shocking defeat against Dieter Domke of Germany on Monday night. The world No. 27 played his heart out before going down fighting 26-24, 13-21, 21-18. However, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan crossed the opening hurdle, beating the Brazilian combination of Hugo Arthuso and Fabiana Silva 21-12, 21-14.
The results: Men: Singles: First round: Ajay Jayaram w/o Kenichi Tago (Jpn); Dieter Domke (Ger) bt P. Kashyap 26-24, 13-21, 21-18; K. Srikanth bt Iztok Utrosa (Slo) 21-11, 11-21, 21-12. Doubles: Pranaav Jerry Chopra & Akshay Dewalkar (Ind) bt Yun Lung Chan & Chun Hei Lee (Hkg) 21-19, 16-21, 22-20.
Mixed doubles: Arun Vishnu & Aparna Balan (Ind) bt Hugo Arthuso & Fabiana Silva (Bra) 21-12, 21-14.
Women: Second round: Saina Nehwal bt Natalia Perminova (Rus) 21-11, 21-9. Doubles: First round: Puttita Supajirakul & Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) w/o Prajakta Sawant & Arathi Sara Sunil.
