Hong Kong Super Series: Saina Nehwal registers win in her opening match

Saina Nehwal

The main rounds of Hong Kong Super Series began on Wednesday, 20th November 2013, with India starting on a disappointing note on the second day of the tournament.

Following the defeat of Anand Pawar on Tuesday, in the morning session of Wednesday, all the Indian representatives failed to overcome their previous disappointing performances except for the Indian favourite Saina Nehwal, who cleared her way to the second round by winning against the World No. 30 Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia.

In the starting clashes of the day, the Russian pair of Vladimir and Ivan got past Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B. in the men’s doubles category. In a parallel match, Kashyap Parupalli surrendered against the World No. 9 Zhengming Wang of China. The Chinese shuttler won the match by the score 21-14, 21-10.

In the following match, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar clashed against the top-seeded and World No. 2 pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. They presented a fair resistance to the Indonesian pair and even started the match with a lead. But the opposition soon reverted back to form and dominated the rest of the match to clinch a victory by the score 21-18, 21-19.

On the other hand, in the women’s singles category, Saina Nehwal the seventh seeded Indian sensation, looked in a good touch and defeated the Indonesian opposition 21-14, 21-16. The match lasted only 34 minutes. Saina will represent India in round two of the tournament scheduled on 21th November, 2013.

Srikanth K. faced a defeat by the World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the men’s singles category.

All eyes are now on P.V. Sindhu, Ajay Jayaram, Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa in their respective round one matches.