Beijing, Aug 10: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her prolific run in the Beijing Olympics, beating Ukrainian Larysa Gryga in straight games to advance to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Games here on Sunday.
Saina beat Gryga 21-18 21-10 to make the last 16 and would now be up against the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova.
Unlike the easy first-round win, the national champion was up for a tough challenge and the first game went neck-and-neck before Saina edged past to grab the lead.
The Indian seemed more at ease with the hot and humid conditions in the Chinese capital compared to Gryga, who found it tough to maintain her energy levels in the second game and gave up rather timidly.
Bureau Report
Follow Olympics from your desktop. Log on to http://olympics.zeenews.com/ for an extensive Beijing Olympic coverage.
First Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008, 00:00