Saina sails into pre-quarters at Olympics

Beijing, Aug 10 (UNI) Continuing her awesome form, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal overpowered Larysa Gryga of Ukraine in straight sets to sail through to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Olympic Games here today.

It was not as easy as in the first round for Saina, but the Indian was good enough to edge out her Ukrainian opponent 21-18, 21-10 and will now take on the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova. While the first round match seemed to be a no contest for Saina yesterday and Gryga stretched her to the limit, especially in the first game but the national champion proved her mettle and took the lead.

The teen sensation was looking far more comfortable than her Ukranian opponent in the second set, who struggled to cope with the hot and humid conditions, and finally succumbed to Saina's exploits.

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