Wuhan (China): The Indian challenge ended at the Asia Badminton Championships after Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy went down fighting in the women’s and men’s singles semifinals here, Saturday.
Saina played out of her skin but could not get past World No.2 and defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and lost 25-27, 19-21 in an edge-of-the seat thriller. This incidentally was Saina’s eighth successive loss to Ying and third of the season. Earlier in 2018, she had lost to her nemesis at the Indonesia Open final and All England Championships.
World No.10 Prannoy paid the price for being too erratic as he went down 16-21, 18-21 to Olympic champion Chen Long of China in a 52-minute match.
In a fast-paced contest between Saina and Ying, where fortunes fluctuated too often, it was the Taipei player who made a roaring 4-1 start with her delightful touches. She maintained the lead and looked quite comfortable on 11-6 at the first interval.
After the breather, Saina clawed back at 15-15 with a brilliant angled return. From there on, Saina kept the pressure on her rival to move to 17-17 and grabbed an 18-17 lead for the first time.
Saina had two game points at 20-18, but Ying saved one with a drop shot and then Saina made a judgement error and it was deuce. As the match progressed Saina had four chances to close out the game but missed those. Ying on the other hand converted her fourth game point with a smash to take a 1-0 lead.
In the second game also, leads continued to change hands. Saina led 5-3 only to see Ying take over at the interval with an 11-9 scoreline. The Chinese Taipei player made it 14-11 only to see Saina catch up at 15-15 with a cross-court smash. A couple of brilliant net dribbles again gave Saina the lead at 18-17. Leading 19-18, however, Saina made three errors and enabled Ying to close out the game and the match.
Long was always the favourite against Prannoy and even though the Indian started aggressively building a 5-2 lead, it did not take long for the Chinese to hit the groove. He made it five-all and then riding on the unforced errors committed by Prannoy extended the lead to 15-11.
Chen judged the shuttles well at the lines while errors continued to pile up for Prannoy, allowing the Chinese to move to a 19-14 lead. The Chinese grabbed the game point with a body smash. Prannoy saved two game points, both at the nets, but his lift went wide again as Chen earned the bragging rights.
In the second game Long was dominant from the start and led all through to win it and the match.
At a glance
Saina Nehwal lost to Tai Tzu Ying 25-27, 19-21
HS Prannoy lost to Chen Long 16-21, 18-21
press trust of india
