Press Trust of India
Wuhan, April 24: The Indian challenge ended at the Asia Badminton Championships with Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu suffering identical three-game defeats in the quarterfinals of the continental event here Friday.
World No. 1 Saina could not get across fifth seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei, going down 21-16, 13-21, 18-21 in a 55-minute women’s singles match. Eighth seed Sindhu, who is playing her first tournament after missing action last month, too ran out of steam against top seed Li Xuerui of China, losing 21-11, 19-21, 8-21 in a match that lasted 52 minutes.
Saina has always found it difficult against Tzu even though she has beaten her opponent five times in the past. But the sixth encounter turned out to be a heartbreak for Saina as Tzu managed to put it across her Indian opponent.
Saina had to fight back after lagging 6-10 early on to draw parity at 11-11. The Indian opened up a slender 16-14. But Tzu fought back to restore parity at 16-all. However, Saina took the next five points to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second game, Tzu didn’t give Saina any chance as she slowly and steadily distanced herself from the Indian, before making a giant jump with straight five points to move to 14-7. She won the game easily to restore parity in the match.
In the decider, Tzu once again surged ahead 5-1. Even though Saina caught up at 17-all, she ran out of steam and lost the game and with it the tie.
Going into the match with a 1-1 record, Sindhu did not waste any time as she zoomed to a 8-1 lead, a gap which Li could not bridge as the Indian conjured up hopes of a win by pocketing the opening game.
In the second game too, Sindhu opened up a 7-3 lead early on but Li clawed back at 9-9 and turned the tables leading 17-13. Sindhu narrowed the gap to 19-20 but Li grabbed the next point to roar into contest.
In the decider, Sindhu just didn’t have enough steam to challenge Li as the Chinese moved into the semis without much ado.
