Saina is looking to keep her Tokyo Olympic hopes alive after an inconsistent outing in 2019 and not the best of starts this year.
Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal. (File Photo: IANS)
India’s Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal advanced to the women’s singles second round of the USD 170,000 Barcelona Spain Masters with a 21-16 21-14 win over Germany’s Yvonne Li in Barcelona on Wednesday.
The Hisar (Haryana) born Saina took just 35 minutes to beat her opponent in the first round match.
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Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki N Reddy also won their mixed doubles first-round match against Denmark’s Mathias Christiansen and Alexandra Boje 10-21 21-16 21-17.
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However, ace Indian men’s shuttler HS Prannoy lost to Malaysian Daren Liew 18-21 15-21 to bow out of the tournament.
Saina is looking to keep her Tokyo Olympic hopes alive after an inconsistent outing in 2019 and not the best of starts this year. She has crossed the first round in only one of the three events in 2020 and has thus not been able to qualify for the World’s biggest sporting festival till now.
Indian supporters would hope that Saina qualifies as well as win a medal for the country at the coveted Olympics later this year.
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