Saina, Sridhar move to second round

Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal cruised into singles second round of the World Badminton Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sridhar got the better of Juergen Koch of Austria 21-15 21-19 in 36 mins while Saina beat Switzerland's Jeanine Cicoginini 21-12 21-12 in first round matches on Monday.

Sridhar, however, has a tough challenge ahead as he faces Olympic Champion Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia in the next round.

Saina will play the winner of Juliane Schenk of Germany and Kristina Ludikova of Czech Republic.

Country's top womens pair Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian faces Elin Bergblom and Johanna Persson of Sweden later on Monday.

In other singles encounter, national champion Chetan Anand will take on ninth seed Sony Di Kuncoro of Indonesia in the first round on Tuesday. Trupti Murgunde will play Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong.

In men's doubles, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas meets Svetoslav Stoyanov and Mihail Popov of France.