New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal led India to the quarterfinals of the Uber Cup with a crushing 4-1 victory over Hong Kong, but it was curtains for their male counterparts in the Thomas Cup after they lost to Korea 3-2 here on Monday.
World number eight Saina hardly broke a sweat in zooming past Pui Yin Yip 21-9, 21-10 as the Indian women looked in fine fettle in their bid to reach the semifinals.
Eleventh ranked PV Sindhu was equally dominant, whipping Ying Mei Cheung 21-8, 21-10, while PC Thulasi also prevailed over Hung Yung Chan 19-21, 21-16, 21-7 in the third singles.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa fired in the doubles competition, prevailing over Hoi Wah Chau and Lok Yan Poon 21-17, 21-13 in half an hour.
However, the other doubles pair of Siki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre lost 14-21, 11-21 to Tsz Ka Chan and Ying Suet Tse as India finished with a 4-1 scoreline.
India next take on Thailand in Group Y.
The Indian women lost to Indonesia in the 2010 quarterfinals but failed to qualify for the knockout stage in the last edition in China.
In Group Y, Thailand also qualified for the knockout stage after thrashing Canada 5-0. Denmark got the better of Malaysia 3-2 while Japan hammered Germany 5-0.
While the Indian women inched closer to their target, the men team’s campaign at the Thomas Cup came to a premature end at the Siri Fort Sports complex.
The Indian men needed to win all their singles matches and skipper Parupalli Kahyap and RMV Gurusaidutt produced brilliant performances to do their job but young Kidambi Srikanth failed to win the first singles earlier in the day.
India will play their inconsequential third tie of Group C against Germany on Wednesday.
The result meant former champions Malaysia and Korea qualified for the knockout stage from Group C. Malaysia defeated Germany 4-1 in another tie.
The home team did not get the start they were looking for as world number 18 Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down fighting 21-17, 12-21, 18-21 to the world number nine Wan Ho Son in the first singles.
B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri tried their best and led 18-14 in the first game but they let the opportunity slip and eventually ended with a 18-21, 17-21 loss against Yeon Seong Yoo and Yong Dae Lee.
Captain Kashyap kept his team in the hunt with a comfortable 21-17, 21-14 win over Lee Dong Keun in the second singles.
However, the doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra lost 16-21, 16-21 to world number four combo of Kim Sa Rang and Kim Ki Jung .
Gurusaidutt once again came up with a stellar performance to register a 24-22, 21-13 win over Hwang Jong Soo as India finished with a 2-3 scoreline. (PTI)