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The lights are dazzling and bright inside the Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium in China which has readied itself for the annual spectacle of the 39th Badminton Asia Championships. The Continental Championships event which boasts of a prize money of $400,000, is in the pre-quarter-final stage of the tournament and has ace Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal and also, Sameer Verma, putting their best foot forward in their second round encounters today.
The opening bid of the Indian squad was fairly successful with Sindhu winning swiftly over Japan's Sayaka Takahashi in straight games. In the 28-minute clash, Sindhu saw off Takahashi in 21-14, 21-7.
Saina Nehwal was made to go that extra mile in her first match of the tournament when she went up against China's Han Yue. After losing the first game, Saina clawed back into the match and outclassed Han Yue in 12-21, 21-11, 21-17.
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Sameer Verma had to work hard to get past Japan's Sakai Kazumasa. Verma lost his flair in the second game of the match and Kazumasa claimed it to stretch the match into a deciding third game. However, Verma was swift to amend his flaws and bade farewell to Kazumasa in 21-13, 17-21, 21-18 after a gruelling battle of 67 minutes.
The promising trio will now play for a berth in the quarter-finals of the event. PV Sindhu is scheduled to clash against Indonesia's Choirunnisa in today's match whilst Saina Nehwal will go up against South Korea's Kim Ga Eun. Verma will be playing Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus in his pre-quarter clash.
Here's all you need to know about the Badminton Asia Championships :-
Tournament Name- 39th Badminton Asia Championships 2019
Category- BWF Continental Individual Championships
Location- Wuhan, China
Prize Money- $400,000
Match: Sameer Verma v NG Ka Long Angus at 8:15 a.m IST on Thursday, April 25, 2019
PV Sindhu [4] v Choirunnisa at 9:45 a.m IST on Thursday, April 25, 2019
Saina Nehwal [7] v Kim Ga Eun at 12:45 p.m IST on Thursday, April 25, 2019
Live telecast: No live telecast in India
Livescore: The matches can be live tracked on the BWF website itself.
