Saina, Anand keep India’s hopes alive in World Badminton

HYDERABAD - Indias Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand entered the singles pre-quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championships even as Parupalli Kashyap put up a brave fight against second seed Jin Chen of China before bowing out in the second round here Wednesday.

Saina, who has stepped on the court after recovering from chicken-pox, showed no signs of tiredness as she dispatched Anastasia Prokopenko of Russia 21-10, 21-17 in just 27 minutes.

Anand, seeded 15th, defeated Bulgaria’s Stilian Makarski 21-9, 21-7 in 28 minutes. Kashyap looked like pulling off a big upset when he took the first game, but then slipped into a streak of errors and went down 21-14, 10-21, 7-21.

In the mens doubles, Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal lost to 16th seed Russian pair of Vitalij Durkin and Alexandr Nikolaenko 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 in the second round.

Later, Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian lost their second round match 16-21, 16-21 to second seed Chinese Shu Cheng and Yunlei Zhao.

All the men’s top players advanced to the third round without much scare. Top seed Lee Chong Wei beat Ola Fagbemi of Nigeria 21-11, 21-14 while Denmark’s Peter Gade defeated Japan’s Sho Sasaki 21-11, 21-12.

Sixth seeded Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia prevailed over Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland 21-12, 21-13.

Women’s top seed Zhou Mi defeated Michelle Chan Ky 21-11, 21-15 in 27 minutes.

In the third round, world No 6. Saina will face 10th seeded Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria, who beat Aiying Xing of Singapore 26-24, 19-21, 21-16 in a tough encounter.

Saina, India’s best medal hope in the tournament, said she had done her homework for the match. Prokopenko was no match for the Indian who engaged her Russian opponent in long rallies before going for the kill.

I was playing her for the first time. She also plays doubles and yesterday I came to see her match. I was ready with a plan. She is a very good net player and is good with the dribble. She has a good smash. So, I decided to go more for rallies than quick-finishing smashes, Saina said.

I was not feeling tired so thats a good sign. But tomorrow I face a tougher opponent and will have a better idea of my fitness level, said Saina.

On the pressure of playing in front of home crowd, Saina said that she is not bogged down by expectations.

I am not feeling any pressure, the crowd was good and it will only help the sport in the country, she said.

Saina kept herself ahead in the first game and never looked in trouble. She opened up a 6-3 lead and then grabbed four points at 12-8 to race to 16-8. She was in command from 16-10 and took five points in a reel.

The second game was a bit close as Sainas errors allowed Anastasia to nose ahead 7-6. But Saina managed to break free from 13-14 with some deceptive drop shots.

Because of the drift from one end, the shuttle was coming faster. And on the other side

its slow. But its better than it was in the Indian Open when there was more drift,” Saina said.

Kashyap, ranked 33 in the world, surprised Chen in the first game, but then lost his way.

“He was more fitter. We were playing long rallies and I was out of breath. It’s not that I was not picking up his shots, but I made some mistakes and he tried to exhaust me.”

Anand, who will meet sixth seed Kuncoro next, said it will be tough.

“I am not happy with the way I played in the second game. I have tighten my game because I am playing Soni whom I have lost in the last World Championship. I have beaten him once in Danish Open,” he said.