Asia Badminton Championship: Saina Nehwal sails to quarters, Sindhu sinks

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal today reached the quarterfinals of the Asia Badminton Championship after brushing aside Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol in straight games.

The fifth seeded Indian prevailed 21-14 21-18 over Jindapol to take her head-to-head record to 7-0 against the Thai player. The World No 8 will take on third seeded Chinese Shixian Wang next.

Saina has a 6-7 head-to-head record against Shixian, having lost to her in the last two encounters.

Other Indian in fray, PV Sindhu, however, suffered a narrow 21-13 20-22 8-21 loss against the deceptive Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in a match that lasted for an hour.

Sindhu will be disappointed to blow away a 12-6 lead in the second game. She was leading for most part before Tai caught up at 15-15 and even though the Indian made it 20-19, she could not close the issue. In the decider, she lost out of her steam.

Saina, on the other hand, hardly broke any sweat as she went about her business with utmost ease. She opened up early leads in both the games and held her fort.