Saina Nehwal crashes out of Denmark Open with loss to Takahashi

Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal. (File Photo: IANS)


Veteran shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Denmark Open after losing in straight games to Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi on Wednesday.

Saina Nehwal lost the first game 15-21 and in the second game threw away a 20-16 lead at one stage to lose the decider 21-23.

Earlier in the day, Pranav Chopra and N Sikki Reddy defeated their German opponents to advance to the next round in the tournament.

On Tuesday, World champion PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth made impressive starts to their campaign while Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma crashed out early after losing their first-round matches.

Sindhu registered a straight game win over Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung in the women’s singles competition. She defeated former World Junior Champion Gregoria 22-20, 21-18 in 38 minutes.