Saina bumps into Chinese wall

Saina Nehwal

Qingdao: The Chinese served yet another reminder of the depth of their badminton talent at the Badminton Asia Championships when a relative uknown dumped India’s Saina Nehwal in the second round on Tuesday.

The incredible reserves of the Chinese were apparent in the women’s singles when they booked seven of the eight quarterfinal slots.The fifth seeded Indian, who won the Swiss Open title recently beating a Chinese in the final, ran into a wall against Chen Jia Xiao, who beat her 21-13 21-16.

It turned out to be a bad day for India, as none of Saina’s teammates could progress either.Sai Praneeth, after an impressive second round win over Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki, failed to get past the third round after losing 21-9 21-18 to Wang Zhengming of China.

World number 16 mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta was bundled out in the second round. The Indians overcame a first-set loss to equalize, but could not sustain that momentum in the third set, losing 21-14 11-21 21-17 to Korean combination of Sa Rang Kim and Hye In Choi.

The other Indian mixed doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pradnya Gadre were eliminated in the second round, losing 21-19 21-7 to Hong Kong’s Wai Hong Wong and Hoi Wah Chau.Women’s doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Prajakta Sawant also went down in the second round, losing 17-21, 12-21 to Thai duo of Duanganong Aroonkesorn and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul.