Saina, Kashyap and Sameer enter last-8 of Syed Modi badminton

SECOND SEED AND THREETIME WINNER HERE SAINA THRASHED YOUNG COMPATRIOT AMOLIKA SINGH SISODIA 2114, 219

With contrasting victories, Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap and Sameer Verma — all of whom have won at least one title previously in their respective categories here — booked quarter-final berths at the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships on Thursday.

Second seed and three-time winner here Saina thrashed young compatriot Amolika Singh Sisodia 21-14, 21-9 in 25 minutes to emerge victorious in her women’s singles pre-quarterfinal contest.

Shortly after, two-time champion Kashyap staged a superb comeback to beat Indonesian Firman Abdul Kholik 9-21, 22-20, 21-8 in a men’s singles thriller that lasted 57 minutes.

Sameer had to put in a bit more effort to move past Chinese Zhao Junpeng in an afternoon match.

The third seed scripted a 22-20, 21-17 victory to set up a quarter-final clash against another Chinese, Zgou Zequi, who accounted for young Indian Harsheel Dani by beating him 21-14, 22-20 later in the day.

2012 London Olympics champion Li Xuerui of China didn’t take much load to brush aside India’s Shreyanshi Pardeshi 21-19, 21-16 in just 31 minutes.

As expected, the Lucknow crowd kept roaring for Saina even before she took the court for her match.

She was surprised by Amolika, who took a sudden 3-0 in the opening game.

But an unforced error by Amolika allowed Saina to get her first point and thereafter there was no stopping to her.

In her usual style, the former world No.1 kept Amolika on her toes as she won the first game. Saina kept hitting the shuttle with perfection in the second game too and this time Amolika could collect just nine points.