Saina crashes out of Asian Championship

New Delhi:

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out after a first-round defeat but P Kashyap and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes afloat by wining their opening men's singles matches of the Asian Badminton Championship in Suwon, Korea on Wednesday.

World number eight and seventh seed Saina put up a brave effort but eventually ran out of steam against defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, losing 21-14, 14-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute battle in the women's singles event on Wednesday.

World number 13 and third seed Chetan Anand also suffered a straight-game defeat against little known Kozai Kazuteru of Japan to crash out in the first round. The Indian lost 13-21, 19-21 to Kozai in a 30-minute battle.

P Kashyap and Anand Pawar turned out to be the stars of the day as they won their respective matches to sail into the next round.

Kashyap spanked Nepalese Rana Kishor 21-7, 21-7 to set up a clash with 15th seed Korean Hong Ji Hoon, who beat Teav Yongvannak of Cambodia in the first round.

Pawar also had an easy outing against Cambodian Mao Chanthan and the Indian trounced his rival 21-5, 21-3 in just 15 minutes. He will next face seventh seed Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Minh later today.

Meanwhile, India's mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta continued their dream run and thrashed Zakharov Mikhail and Suleyeva Karina of Kazakhstan 21-6, 21-6 in 15 minutes in the opening round.

In another match, Taiwanese Chiang Pei Hsin made short work of Aditi Mutatkar 21-13, 21-11 in 20 minutes to draw curtains on India's women's singles challenge.

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