Badminton Asia Championships: Saina Nehwal too strong for Kaori Imabeppu in first round clash
India’s badminton queen Saina Nehwal took an impressive start at the Badminton Asia Championships when she toppled Japan’s Kaori Imabeppu in Women’s Singles first round in China, on Wednesday, April 18.
Saina, who is fifth seed in the tournament, proved too strong for the lower ranked Japanese shuttler in the opening round encounter.
The World Number 5 Saina spent just 33 minutes in the court to stamp her supremacy over Imabeppu and advanced into the next round in an inspiring fashion.
On the other hand, Imabeppu could not match the skills of Saina and remained far behind in the contest. She lost the battle in straight sets without putting up strong show in front of local crowd.
In the first game, Saina took a wonderful start when she established an early lead by playing positive and aggressive badminton.
She was in full control and her sharp points disturbed the flow of Imabeppu who had no answer to the powerful and fast strokes of Saina.
The higher ranked Indian was in complete control as she earned points every time she hit the bird hard because her strokes landed in the right areas.
In the meanwhile, Imabeppu could not play competitive game as she was trailing far behind her Indian opponent in all aspects of the game.
Saina sailed smoothly in the opening game and easily bagged it with a tremendous score of 21-9.
In the second set, Imabeppu put up good show in opening rallies but failed to maintain it as Saina took over the control and managed to set up a wonderful lead.
Until the one-minute interval in second set, Saina was moving far ahead as she did not face a strong opposition at all.
After the break, Saina continued her roller-coaster run in the game by maintaining her upper hand in the game. She was remarkable in her execution of strokes and ended the second set with a tremendous margin of 21-12.
Saina emerged as the winner against Imabeppu in a striking fashion as she bagged the match in straight sets with a sensational 21-9 and 21-12 margin on the score board.
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