Saina Advances; Kashap, Sourabh Exit Hong Kong Series

Kowloon: Saina Nehwal entered the second round but Parupalli Kashyap and Sourabh Verma failed to cross the opening hurdle at the USD 400,000 Hong Kong Super Series, here on Wednesday.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina staved off a spirited challenge from World No 44 Mette Poulsen of Denmark 21-19 23-21 in a 46-minute match. World No 11 Saina, who won the bronze at the World Championship, will next face a tough opponent in eighth seeded Chinese Chen Yufei, who had clinched the other bronze at the Glasgow tournament in August.

In men's singles competition, Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap squandered an opening game advantage to go down narrowly 21-15 9-21 20-22 to Korean Lee Dong Keun in a match that lasted an hour and nine minutes. Sourabh, meanwhile, failed to put up a fight against Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto, losing 15-21 8-21 to bow out of the competition.

PTI