Badminton: Saina, Kashyap, Praneeth advance at Macau Open

Indian star shuttler Saina Nehwal edged past Hanna Ramadini of Indonesia to advance to the second round of the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Top seeded Nehwal defeated the Indonesian player 21-23 21-14 21-18 in a match which lasted around one hour at the main location-4.

After going down in the first game, the Hyderabadi shuttler bounced back in style to outplay her opponent in every department of the game.

In men's singles category, B Sai Praneeth defeated Sun Feixiang of China 21-12 21-15 in 40 minutes of play.

His compatriot, Parupalli Kashyap also advanced into the second round of the tournament.

Kashyap, who is making a comeback after a long break, defeated Chun-Wei Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-19 21-8 in a match which lasted for 33 minutes.

In another match, Sameer Verma, who was in the spotlight after reaching the final at the recently concluded Hong Kong Open, was defeated by Muhammad Bayu Pangisthu of Indonesia 18-21, 13-21 in the opening round in 35 minutes of play.

In the men's doubles category, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy edged past Chan Alan Yun Lung and Li Kuen Hon of Hong Kong to advance.

The Indian pair defeated the Hong Kong duo 21-11, 17-21, 21-9 in 40 minutes.

--IANS

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