Seoul : India ace Saina Nehwal progressed to the quarterfinals of the USD 600,000 Korea Open after seeing off Korea’s Kim Ga Eun at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament here Thursday.
Former world No.1, who had won a bronze at the Asian Games and gold at Commonwealth Games this year, defeated Kim Ga Eun 21-18 21-18 in a 37-minute women’s singles pre-quarterfinal.
Fifth seed Saina will cross swords with 2017 world champion and third seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara.
Saina has a 6-3 head-to-head count against the Okuhara but she has lost to the Japanese in the last two meetings.
The Indian made a rampaging start, jumping to a 10-2 lead but Kim narrowed the gap to 8-11 at the break.
After the breather, Saina continued to move ahead, grabbing a 16-10 lead but the Korean reeled off six straight points to draw level at 18-18. However, Saina ensured there were no hiccups, grabbing the required three points to pocket the opening game.
Kim came back strongly in the second game, surging to an 8-1 advantage but the experienced Saina slowly clawed her way back to 10-13 and then claimed seven points on the trot to turn the tables on the Korean, reaching 17-13.
From there on, Saina sealed the contest, despite Kim’s attempts to fightback.
Saina had reached the final of Indonesia Masters in January and the only tournament she won was the Commonwealth Games in April, beating compatriot P V Sindhu in the final at Gold Coast.
Vimal lauds Nehwal Meanwwile, former national badminton coach Vimal Kumar Thursday lauded Saina Nehwal for not letting her relationship with fellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap affect her game, amid reports that the two are tying the knot in December.
“I knew about their (Saina and Kashyap) relationship. One good thing about it is, Saina managed it very well. She did not get distracted with it. Her priority was sport and she gave hundred per cent to it,” he told PTI at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here.
Saina shifted from Hyderabad to Bengaluru to train under Vimal Kumar in 2014 before her return to Hyderabad to once again train under Pullela Gopichand last year.
Kumar has been instrumental in helping Saina achieve World No. 1 ranking in April 2015 and win a silver at the World Championship.
“Normally, such attractions and relationships among teens are a great distraction, but Saina drew inspiration from it and reached many milestones in her career,” he added.
Recently, Saina had included Kashyap’s name in her thank you note on twitter along with coach Gopichand and her physios after clinching a bronze in Asian Games.
“I would like to thank Gopi Sir for all the hardwork and support … also <\@>parupallik for giving me great match inputs and for helping me in sessions before the #AsianGame2018 … lot of efforts of Physios would like to thank <\@>ArvindDNigam4 and Kiran challagundla sir,” Saina wrote on Twitter.
Kumar said it is important not to forget about one’s goals in life.
Kumar said he is happy that Saina is getting married to Kashyap because he has known them for a long time.
He advised Kashyap to switch to coaching after marriage but expect Saina to continue playing for a couple of years more.