London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Orleans Masters badminton tournament after prevailing over France’s Marie Batomene in the women’s singles round of 16 in France on Thursday.
For Srikanth Kidambi, it was a straight-game win but not quite straightforward as he overcame a gritty Malaysian opponent in Cheam June Wei to join Nehwal in the last eight.
This is a Super 100 event, which is part of BWF’s revised Olympic qualification period.
Running against time to make it to her fourth Olympics, Nehwal recovered from the opening game reversal to see off world No 65 Marie 18-21, 21-15, 21-10 in a 51-minute clash at the start of the day’s proceedings.
The fourth-seeded Indian, who had pulled out of last week’s All England Championships due to a thigh injury, will face either Malaysia’s Iris Wang next. The former world No 1 played with heavy strapping in the first match on Wednesday against Ireland’s Rachael Darragh…