Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal [Images] continued her fine form, beating Ukrainian Larysa Gryga in straight games to advance to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Olympic [Images] Games in Beijing [Images] on Sunday.
Saina beat Gryga 21-18, 21-10 to advance to the last 16, where she will face the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova.
Unlike the easy first-round win, the national champion was up for a tough challenge in her second round match and the first game went neck-and-neck before Saina edged past to grab the lead.
The Indian seemed more at ease with the hot and humid conditions in the Chinese capital compared to Gryga, who found it tough to maintain her energy levels in the second game and gave up rather timidly.
Complete coverage: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|