Odense, Oct 18:
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal knocked out Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the opening round of women’s singles competition in the Denmark Open here today.
Saina, who won a bronze in the Glasgow World Championship, defeated Marin 22-20 21-18 in a hard-fought battle. She will play either Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol or Russia’s Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the next round.
Other Indians Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy made positive starts to the tournament but B Sai Praneeth crashed out in the opening round of men’s singles.
World number eight Srikanth overcame a spirited challenge from compatriot qualifier Subhankar Dey, who played for Greve team at the Danish league this year, 21-17-21-15 to set up a clash with Korean Jeon Hyeok Jin, the 2016 Australian Open runners-up.
On the adjacent court, Praneeth lost 10-21 15-21 to Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in a lop-sided contest.
Earlier, world number 15 Prannoy recovered from a 6-11 deficit in the second game to oust Denmark’s Emil Holst 21-18 21-19 in a hard-fought match. It was his third win over the Danish shuttler. The Indian is likely to play former World No. 1 Malaysian Lee Chong Wei tomorrow. (PTI)
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