Asian Games 2014 : Indian women's badminton team reaches last 8 stage

Saina Nehwal

Incheon, Sep 20 (IANS) Indian badminton women's team Saturday entered the quarterfinal of the Asian Games after thrashing Macau 3-0 in their pre-quarterfinal tie at the Gyeyang Gymnasium here.

For India, singles stars Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu had comfortable victories while doubles pair of N. Sikky Reddy and Pradnya Gadre won convincingly in the third match of the tie.

London Olympic 2012 bronze medallist Saina set the ball rolling for her team as she thrashed Wong kit Leng 21-6, 21-4. World No. 7 Saina, who came into the tournament, trained under Vimal Kumar at the Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore. She took 31 minutes to win the match over an inexperienced Kit Leng.

Next up, double World Championships bronze medal winner and an in-form Sindhu completely dominated U Teng Lok 21-8, 21-9 to wrap up her match in 36 minutes.

The doubles pair of Sikky-Pradnya defeated Zhibo Zhang-Rong Wang 21-16, 21-17. The Indian pair initially took time to adjust to get the momentum going in their favour and afterwards it was easy for them as they won in 45 minutes.

Women's team next plays a tough match against Thailand, who will be spearheaded by former world champion Ratchanok Intanon.