Olympics: Saina begins medal bid on strong note

India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal made a rousing start to her bid for an Olympic medal as she spanked Swiss Sabrina Jaquet in straight games in a lop-sided women's singles group stage opening match in London today.

India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal made a rousing start to her bid for an Olympic medal as she spanked Swiss Sabrina Jaquet in straight games in a lop-sided women's singles group stage opening match in London on Sunday.

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The world number five Indian was too good for the 65th ranked Swiss as she took just 22 minutes to complete a 21-9 21-4 victory at the Wembley arena here.

Sabrina, who had qualified for the Games by reaching the quarter finals of the 2012 European Championship in Karlskrona, Sweden, could not provide any resistance to Saina, who launched her campaign on a dominating note.

The 22-year-old Indian, who came into the tournament after winning the Thailand Grand Prix Gold and Indonesian Super Series Premium last month, took 12 minutes to wrap up the first match, before sealing the issue in her favour by winning the second game in just 10 minutes.

Such was the domination of the Indian that Sabrina was reduced to a bystander as the Indian kept lapping up her points in quick succession. The girl from Hyderabad led by a massive 12 and 17 points in the first and second game respectively.

Saina, who had reached the quarterfinals in her Olympic debut at the Beijing Games four years ago, will take on Lianne Tan of Belgium in another group E match on Monday.