Saina, Srikanth advance at Badminton World Championships
Nanjing (China), July 31 : Indian stars Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won their respective matches at the Badminton World Championships here on Tuesday.
Saina defeated Aliye Demirbag of Turkey in straight games to enter the third round of the women's singles category. Saina fought off a brave effort from her Turkish opponent to cruise to a 21-17, 21-18 victory in just 39 minutes.
The opening game saw a tough battle in the early stages before Saina produced a four-point burst to lead 14-10. She held on to the advantage till the end to win the game.
Saina showcased her class in the second game, scoring at ease as she romped to a win.
The Hyderabad-based Indian is expected to face a tougher challenge in the next round where she will meet an experienced opponent in fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon of Indonesia.
Ratchanok staged a strong comeback to win a tough encounter against the impressive Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark.
The nail-biting see-saw battle, which lasted an hour and 16 minutes, saw Ratchanok carve out a 16-21, 22-20, 21-10 victory.
In the men's singles category, Srikanth took 37 minutes to defeat Nhat Nguyen of Ireland in straight games.
The Indian, who advanced to the second round, did not have to sweat too much on his way to a 21-15, 21-16 victory over his unseeded opponent.
Srikanth forced the early advantage, taking four consecutive points to open up a 7-2 lead before increasing the gap to 11-5. Nguyen staged a strong fight back with two four-point streaks of his own to level the scores at 13-13.
He subsequently took a slender lead at 15-14, but the Indian came up with an impressive run of seven back to back points to take the opening game.
The second game saw a neck and neck battle till the halfway stage when the two players went into the break with Srikanth in possession of a 11-9 lead.
The Indian came out all guns blazing after the resumption, taking six consecutive points to open up a comfortable 17-10 advantage. Although Nguyen closed the gap to within two points, Srikanth produced another late burst to wrap up the match.
Srikanth will be up against Pablo Abian of Spain in the next round. The unseeded Spaniard defeated Toby Penty of England 21-18, 21-6 in his campaign opener.
In the mixed doubles competition, the unseeded Indian pair of Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh lost to eighth seeds Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia by an 18-21, 11-21 margin in 36 minutes.
It was curtains for Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy as well, since they lost 16-21, 4-21 to 12th seeds Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia.
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Rocket from Yemen strikes Tel Aviv, injuring 16, as Palestinians mourn 19 dead in Gaza
Tel Aviv, Dec 21: A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians.
A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 am Saturday, the military said.
The Houthi rebels issued a statement on the Telegram messaging app saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.
The attack comes less than two days after a series of Israeli airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people. The Israeli strikes were in response to a Houthi attack in which a long-range missile hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won't stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports “that will lead to the immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The port at Hodeida has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides' attacks risk further escalation in the region and undermine UN mediation efforts.
