Malvika Bansod on defeating Saina Nehwal: A dream come true

Malvika Bansod en route her win over Saina Nehwal (right) at IG Stadium in New Delhi yesterday. Pics/BAI

Two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy advanced to the quarter-finals, but the promising Malvika Bansod ended her idol Sania Nehwal's campaign at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open here on Thursday.

Big achievement

Former champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Saina suffered a 17-21, 9-21 straight game loss to her 20-year-old compatriot. Bansod, ranked 111th, took 34 minutes to see off the former World No.1, becoming only the second Indian to beat Nehwal since 2017 in any international tournament.

"It was my first meeting with Saina Nehwal. She has been my idol since I started playing badminton. So playing against her was a dream come true and that too, in the Indian Open, on such a big stage.... A Super 500 tournament, it was a big achievement for me, one of the biggest wins of my career so far," said Bansod after her win.

Coming back from knee and groin injuries, Saina, who had won her first round match on Tuesday, was happy with the her movement on the court but said she had a lot of catching up to do on the fitness front. "I was moving on the court, but my fitness is still not where it should be. So I came here to see were I stand. My body is good, but fitness level I need to work on," Saina said.

Sindhu plays Chaliha

Earlier, top seed Sindhu had no problem dispatching fellow India Ira Sharma 21-10, 21-10. She will meet compatriot Ashmita Chaliha, who got the better of french shuttler Yaelle Hoyaux 21-17, 21-14, in the quarter-final on Thursday.

Bansod will next take on fellow Indian Aakarshi Kashyap in the quarter-finals. World championships bronze medallist Sen also moved to the quarter-finals after defeating Felix Burestedt of Sweden 21-12, 21-15. He will take on compatriot HS Prannoy in the last eight.

Seven players test positive

Prannoy received a walkover as his opponent Mithun Manjunath withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19.

The men's top seed Kidambi Srikanth, doubles player Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Rahul Thkar, Treesa Jolly, Simran Aman Singh and Khushi Gupta are the other players who had to withdraw from the tournament due to the positive COVID-19 results, which led to several walkovers.

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