London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal on Thursday entered the quarter-finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament. The top seed beat Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia 17-21, 21-18, 21-12 in the one hour and two minutes match.
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Badminton ace Saina is still recovering from a knee surgery which kept her away from winning the last two tournaments -- the Hong Kong Open and China Open earlier this month. The Hong Kong Open was her second tournament after making a comeback from a knee surgery in August. Earlier, because of the same reason, she got out very early from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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While Saina is the world No. 11, her 22-year-old opponent Dinar is world No. 50. After PV Sindhu pulled out of the tournament to prepare herself for the Dubai Super Series Finals, Saina is currently the highest-ranked Indian in the tournament. Saina won the game comfortably over Dinar. Here's hoping the shuttler, who is undergoing rehabilitation and training with support of her coach Vimal Kumar, comes out on top again.
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