Asia Championship: Saina cruises through to quarters; Sindhu’s run ends
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal entered the quarter-final of the Badminton Asia Championship in Wuhan, China on Thursday after defeating Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in straight games. However, P V Sindhu’s run in the tournament came to an end after losing to eighth-seed Tai Tzu Ying.
Saina, who withdrew from the Singapore Open and China Masters GPG to prepare for the Asia Badminton Championship, made it to her fifth quarter-final in a row after defeating Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand 21-14, 21-18 in a match that lasted 45 minutes. The World No.8 had defeated the Thai shuttler in the opening round of the Malaysia Open and second round of the India Open back in March and once again made it look easy by securing victory in a one-sided match.
The fifth-seeded Indian won the first point of the match and never looked back from
The second game started out similar to the first, but the unseeded Thai showed more spirit and came close to the Indian before the break by making it 10-9. But there was no stopping Saina, as the 2012 Olympics bronze medallist pulled away by winning four points in a row.
The 26-year old will have a tough job on her hands in the quarters on
However, India’s day at the Championship had earlier started on a sour note after P V Sindhu bowed out of the tournament. Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who has defeated Saina Nehwal in the last six meetings, proved to be too good for the Indian as she won the match 13-21, 22-20, 21-8.
Sindhu started the match on a positive note winning the opening game 21-13 and was almost on the brink of winning the second game. Sindhu had a 15-10
The agonising loss in the second game took too much out of Sindhu as she failed to challenge the World No. 9. With the momentum on her side, Tai Tzu Ying won eight consecutive points at the start and did not look back from there as she raced to a 21-8 win to confirm her place in the quarters.
India’s campaign in the men’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles had all ended on Wednesday after most Indian shuttlers suffered first-round exits. Â