Shuttlers Saina, Sindhu advance, Kashyap out of Asia Championship

World's top-ranked women's shuttler Saina Nehwal and compatriot P.V. Sindhu won their respective matches but male star Parupalli Kashyap was beaten in the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday.

Saina defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-14, 10-21, 21-10 in a see-saw encounter lasting an hour and seven minutes. She got a bye and a walkover in the first two rounds of the competition.

The Indian will next take on fifth seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei on Friday.

Eighth seed Sindhu beat Macau's Teng Iok U 21-8, 21-9 in her Round of 16 match in barely 20 minutes. She will next face top seed Li Xuerui in the quarters.

But Kashyap went down fighting against Chinese seventh seed Zhengming Wang 23-21, 17-21, 8-21 in a match that lasted 67 minutes.

Also making their exit were Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan, in the mixed doubles event, who lost 13-21, 5-21 to China's Kai Lu and Yaqiong Huang in 29 minutes in a Round of 32 match.

The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy also were bested by China's Xiaolong Liu and Zihan Qiu in 34 minutes with the score reading 10-21, 13-21.