Hong Kong Open: Saina Nehwal begins campaign with hard-fought win

Kowloon: On a comeback trail, Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to her campaign at the Hong Kong Super Series, advancing to the second round of women’s singles with a hard-fought win over Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk at Kowloon on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_3108816” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Saina Nehwal. AFP[/caption] London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina, who had lost to Porntip in the opening round at China Open after making a comeback following a three-month lay-off due to injury, avenged the loss with a 12-21, 21-19, 21-17 win over the World No 12 Thai shuttler. The fifth seeded Indian, who is looking to seal her Dubai Super Series Final spot, will next take on the winner of the match between Chiang Mei Hui and Japan’s Sayaka Sato at the Hong Kong Coliseum. In men’s singles, Swiss Open winner HS Prannoy defeated China’s Qiao Bin 21-16 21-18, while National champion Sameer Verma edged past Japan’s Takuma Ueda 22-20, 21-18 in another match. Men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who represented India at the Rio Olympics, however, suffered a 15-21, 8-21 loss to Korean combo of Solgyu Choi and KO Sung Hyun.