Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday fought hard to defeat Indonesia’s Hanna Ramadini and enter the second round in the women’s singles event of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
Saina defeated World No. 44 Hanna 21-23, 21-14, 21-18 in a match that lasted more than an hour. She will take on Dinar Dyah Ayustine in the second round.
On a comeback trail, Commonwealth Games champion P. Kashyap reached the pre-quarterfinal but it was curtains for Hong Kong Super Series finalist Sameer Verma at the USD 120,000 Macau Grand Prix Gold here on Wednesday.
Kashyap, who recovered from multiple injuries and then took a break after the Denmark Open to work on his fitness and game, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chun-Wei Chen 21-19, 21-8. He will take on Chinese Taipei’s Lin Yu Hsien next.
For young Sameer, who had an exceptional campaign at Hong Kong last week, failed to break the defence of Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu of Indonesia and lost 18-21, 13-21 to bow out of the tournament.
Third-seeded men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy saw off Hong Kong’s Chan Alan Yun Lung and Li Kuen Hon 21-11, 17-21, 21-9. They will take on Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya.
Kashyap, who is back on the circuit after over a month, lead 5-0 early on and then entered the lemon break at 11-7.
However, Chun-Wei led a strong challenge and turned the tables with an eight-point burst. The Indian then slowly and steadily made his way back to reach 16-19 before sealing the opening game with five straight points.
In the second game, Kashyap was very dominant as he broke off as early as 5-5 and never looked back as Chun-Wei crumbled under pressure.
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