Jakarta (Indonesia): Indian badminton players Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth both advanced in their respective singles encounters, while 10th-seeded Parupalli Kashyap was knocked out of the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Nehwal exhibited imperious form to defeat Chinese Taipei's Cheung Ngan Yi 21-13, 21-9 in the second-round match at Jakarta's 9000-seater Istora Senayan arena.
The World No 2 only needed 33 minutes to complete the formalities, collecting 42 of the 64 total points played in a completely one-sided affair. Nehwal will next face the challenge of 14th seed Japanese Sayaka Takahashi, who defeated Switzerland's Sabrina Jaquet 21-11, 21-17.
Earlier in the day, Srikanth breezed past Chinese Taipei's Hsu Jen Hao 21-14, 21-15, in the second-round match, taking just 36 minutes to collect the win. Srikanth was dominant throughout, collecting 42 of the 71 points played. He will next play 13th-seeded Hong Kong's Hu Yun in the next round.
Kashyap was knocked out of the tournament after losing 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 to Nguyen Tien Minh of Vietnam in the second round in a match that stretched for an hour and five minutes.
The Indian women's doubles team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa fared better, winning their second-round contest against the Chinese Taipei duo of Hsieh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung 21-10, 21-18.
The doubles specialists dominated the match from the very beginning and wrapped up the match in just 24 minutes, winning 42 of the 70 total points played. They will next play the Japanese pair of Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda in the next round.
The other Indian doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Sikki N Reddy failed to emulate their senior teammates and went down fighting 17-21, 19-21 against Japan's Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito.
While Kashyap's loss was definitely a blow to the 18-member strong Indian contingent, India's other singles player HS Prannoy kept his chances alive by winning his second-round contest on Wednesday.
11th-seeded Prannoy took only 39 minutes to beat Ugandan player Edwin Ekiring 21-14, 21-19 to sail into the third round. He won 42 of the 75 total points played in the game. Prannoy will face seventh-seeded Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the quarter-finals.
In the men's doubles section, India's Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra went down 16-21, 12-21 against Danish duo of Mads Conrad-Petersen and Pieler Kolding.
