Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold: Spots in quarters for Saina & Ajay

Sarawak (Malaysia): Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram continued their good run to reach the quarterfinals of the season-opening Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold on Thursday. 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. However, it was the end of the road for the women’s doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant as they lost 18-21, 14-21 to second seeds Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han of Chinese Taipei. In the men’s doubles, Rio Olympians Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy, seeded third, also bowed out, losing 17-21, 21-18, 12-21 to Indonesians Hendra Aprida Gunawan and Markis Kido. Arjun M.R. and Ramchandran Shlok 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 suffered a 17-21, 17-21 defeat to eighth seed Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan of Singapore to end their campaign. 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.