Badminton: Saina, Praneeth advance; Kashyap bows out of Macau Open

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia to enter the third round of the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Thursday.

In a match which lasted around one hour, the London Olympics bronze medallist, who clawed back to the top-10 of women's singles rankings edged past her Indonesian opponent Ayustine 17-21, 21-18, 21-12 in the women's singles event.

After going down in the first game, the top seed Hyderabadi regained her calm and clinched the next two games to advance in the tournament.

In men's singles, B. Sai Praneeth defeated fifth seed Wong Wing Ki Vincent 21-15 21-17 to advance into the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Both games saw the Indian shuttler overpowering his opponent with some swift court movements and powerful strokes to clinch the issue in 43 minutes.

In other match, Parupalli Kashyap, making a comeback after a long layoff, bowed out of the tournament losing his second round match to Chinese Taipei's Lin Yu Hsien 13-21, 20-22.

In a match which lasted 45 minutes, Kashyap gave away the first game easily but in the second game he displayed some quality strokes -- he, however, failed to overpower his opponent.

In men's doubles category, it was end of road for Indian pair Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy who were beaten by Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya of Singapore 22-20, 21-19.

The Indian duo started the proceedings on a good note but after a hard fought battle they lost the first game.

The second game saw both sides battling for each point but the Singapore pair proved superior and clinched the issue.

--IANS

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