Saina Nehwal reaches quarters in Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold

Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram continued their good run and reached the quarterfinals of the season-opening Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in Sarawak, Malaysia, 19 January.

London Olympics bronze-medallist and former World No. 1 Saina brushed aside Indonesia's Hanna Ramadini 21-17 21-12 in a 42-minute contest. The top-seeded Indian will next face eighth seed Indonesian Fitriani Fitriani.

Sixth seed Jayaram, meanwhile, staved off a challenge from Chinese Taipei's Hsueh Hsuan Yi 21-12 15-21 21-15 at the Sibu Indoor Stadium. The 29-year-old Indian will next face Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

However, it was end of the road for women's doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant as they suffered an 18-21, 14-21 loss against the second-seeded Chinese Taipei combo of Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han.

In men's doubles, Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, seeded third, also bowed out of the tournament after losing 17-21 21-18 12-21 to the Indonesian combo of Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Markis Kido.

Arjun M R and Ramchandran Shlok also lost 14-21 17-21 to Hong Kong's Law Cheuk Him and Lee Chun Hei Reginald in another men's doubles match.

The Indo-Malaysian mixed doubles pair of Prajakta Sawant and Yogendran Khrishnan also suffered a 17-21 17-21 defeat to eighth seed Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan of Singapore to end their campaign.

Newly-formed pair of Jwala Gutta and Manu Attri too couldn't get past the sixth seeded Indonesian combo of Tontowi Ahmad and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja 18-21 10-21 to crash out of the event.

--PTI