Nehwal, Praneeth enter pre-quarters of World Badminton C'ships

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal kicked off her campaign at the 2017 World Badminton Championships on a winning note as she eased past Sabrina Jaquet of Switzerland in straight games in the women's singles event here on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old, who got a first-round bye, registered a comfortable 21-11, 21-12 win over her Swiss opponent Jaquet in a one-sided second round clash that lasted just few minutes more than half an hour.

Nehwal, the 12th seed in the tournament, will now cross swords with either India's Tanvi Lad or second-seed Sung Ji Hyun of Korea for a place in the quarter-finals.

In men's singles clash, B. Sai Praneeth produced a spirited performance as he bounced back from a game down against Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia to storm into the pre-quarterfinals.

After losing the first game, Praneeth came back strongly to register a 14-21, 21-18,21-19 win over his Indonesian opponent in a thrilling second-round clash that lasted one hour and 12 minutes.

He will now face off against Germany's Marc Zwiebler or sixth-seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the third round.