Saina, Jwala-Ponappa keep India's hopes alive
July 31, 2012  11:27
India's top shuttler Saina Nehwal romped into the knockout stage of women's singles competition, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also kept their hopes alive in the women's doubles event after recording contrasting victories in their respective groups.

Saina, ranked fifth in the world, was in no difficulty at all as she brushed aside the challenge of Belgium's Lianne Tan with a straight 21-4, 21-14 scoreline in a group E match, which lasted just 27 minutes, here yesterday.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala and Ashwini also set the Wembly arena ablaze when they stunned world number 10 Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei 25-23 16-21 21-18 in a Group B round robin match here.

In the women's singles, 22-year-old Saina went into an attacking mode straightaway with court movements and put her opponent under tremendous pressure. She took just nine minutes to wrap up the first game and had to work just a little harder to take the second game in 15 minutes to keep herself in the reckoning for an Olympic medal.
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