Sindhu enters quarters, 3 matches postponed due to uneven court

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu sailed into the quarterfinals with a straight game win but three pre-quarterfinals of the 83rd Senior National Badminton Championship had to be rescheduled after Saina Nehwal refused to play due to uneven surface of the court, here Thursday.

A former champion, Sindhu, top seed, took time to get into the groove before opening her campaign with a 21-11 21-13 win over Nagpur's Malvika Bansod in the women's singles, while top seed Sameer Verma, playing the next match at the Assam Badminton Academy courts, conceded a men's singles encounter against Aryamann Tandon midway at 21-16 1-8 after aggravating a achilles heel problem.

Up against Shruti Mundada in the pre-quarters, Saina then decided to have a look at the surface and made it clear that she won't risk playing on that "uneven" court with the All England Championship round the corner.

BAI secretary (events) Omar Rashid then postponed the three pre-quarterfinal matches, involving Saina, Parupalli ...