Badminton Asia Championship: PV Sindhu advances into second round, Saina Nehwal bows out

Wuhan, China: Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu cruised into the second round but compatriot Saina Nehwal bowed out fighting in the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_3362506” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PV Sindhu. PTI[/caption] The world number three Indian defeated Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia 21-8 21-18 in a lop-sided encounter that lasted just 31 minutes, while London Games bronze medallist lost to Japan’s Sayaka Sato 19-21 21-16 21-18 in the women’s singles after slogging it for more than an hour. Seeded seventh, Saina had won bronze medal twice in the prestigious event. Ajay Jayaram defeated fifth seeded Houwei Tian of China 21-18 18-21 21-19 to progress to the second round of the men’s singles event. In the mixed doubles event, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost to Chinese top seeds Siwei Zheng and Qingchen Chen 15-21 21-14 16-21, getting knocked out in 50 minutes.