Saina keeps Indian hopes alive

New Delhi, April 2: Officially crowned world no. 1, Saina Nehwal on Thursday remained the lone Indian hope at the Malaysia Super Series premier badminton tournament after she defeated Chinese qualifier Xue Yao to reach the quarter- finals in Kuala Lumpur.

Saina, who made sure of the world no. 1 ranking during her India Open triumph, continued her rampaging run with a dominating win over Xue 21- 13, 21- 9 in a lop- sided 30minute singles match to set up a clash with another Chinese shuttler, Sun Yu, ranked 15th in the world.

However. world no. 4 Kidambi Srikanth — who clinched successive titles last month — crashed out of the event, going down to China’s Tian Houwei 14- 21, 18- 21 in a men’s singles second round match.

It was also curtains for Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Indonesian Masters winner H. S. Prannoy.

Kashyap, who slipped to world no. 17 on Thursday following a dip in performance due to a spate of injuries, fell 10- 21, 6- 21 to world no. 1 Chen Long of China.

Prannoy, who jumped three places to 14th after his giant- killing exploits at the India Open, went down to two- time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China 15- 21, 14- 21 in another men’s singles match that lasted 52 minutes.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, too, suffered a loss in the second round, going down fighting 23- 21, 8- 21, 17- 21 to sixth seeded Indonesians Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii.

Interestingly, it was Xue who had ended Saina’s campaign at the 2014 Malaysia Open but on the day the Indian just brushed her aside, riding on her better foot movement and powerful array of strokes.

Up next is China’s Sun Yu, against who Saina has a 2- 1 record.