March 8, 2014
Saina Nehwal lost 17-21 10-21 against fourth seed and world number 3 Shixian Wang.
BIRMINGHAM: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was outplayed by Chinese nemesis Shixian Wang in a lop-sided quarterfinal, bringing to an end India’s campaign in the All England Badminton Championship.
March 8, 2014
Saina Nehwal lost 17-21 10-21 against fourth seed and world number 3 Shixian Wang.
BIRMINGHAM: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was outplayed by Chinese nemesis Shixian Wang in a lop-sided quarterfinal, bringing to an end India’s campaign in the All England Badminton Championship.
The world number 7 Indian lost 17-21 10-21 against fourth seed and world number 3 Shixian Wang in a duel which lasted 43 minutes.
In a one-sided contest, Wang, against whom Saina had a 4-2 overall record heading into the match, dominated all through to set up a clash against compatriot and second seed Yihan Wang.
Wang beat Korea’s Yeon Ju Bae 21-8 21-13 in her quarterfinal contest. Wang is the reigning world champion besides being a silver-medalist at the World Championships.
Saina, who had lost to Shixian in their most recent encounter in the Swiss Open last year, was off-colour from the word go.
Her trademark smashes were nowhere to be seen and, in fact, the Indian, a semifinalist in the previous edition of the event, failed to pull off even one of them in either of the two games.
The Olympic bronze-medalist, who entered the tournament claiming that she was back to her best after clinching the Syed Modi Indian Open, fought for a while in the opening game but collapsed completely in the second.
Saina was the only Indian left in the championships as World No. 10 P V Sindhu found the going tough on her debut and lost to Sun Yu of China in the first round.
Courtesy: PTI
