Good day for Indian shuttlers at Australia Open (Lead)

Sydney June 22 (IANS) It was a good day for Indian shuttlers as defending champion Saina Nehwal Rio Olympics silver medallist P.V. Sindhu Kidambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth advanced at the $750 000 Australia Open Superseries here on Thursday.

In women s singles category Nehwal edged past Soniia Cheah of Malaysia 21-15 20-22 21-14 in a gruelling match which lasted around an hour. Fifth-seeded Sindhu played to her reputation and outplayed her Chinese opponent Chen Xiaoxin 21-13 21-18 in 46 minutes match.

In men s singles Srikanth who recently clinched Indonesia Open and Praneeth continued their prime form brushing aside South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho and Chinese Huang Yuxiang respectively to advance to the quarter-finals where they take on each other.

Srikanth defeated Son Wan Ho 15-21 21-13 21-13 while Praneeth who played a defensive game defeated Yuxiang 21-15 18-21 21-13 in an hour long match.

In women s doubles after winning the first game the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy were outplayed in every department of the game by Japanese duo Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-18 18-21 13-21 and bowed out of the meet.

--IANS
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