SGC Thailand Open: Saina Nehwal crashes out in quarterfinals

FILE PHOTO: Saina Nehwal

India’s badminton icon Saina Nehwal crashed out of the SCG Thailand Open badminton championships being played in Bangkok. The top seed lost to eighth seed Juan Gu of Singapore 21-13, 12-21, 18-21.

The world number two gave a good account of herself in the opening game and raced away to a decent lead midway through the contest. The Singaporean was not allowed to play her natural game as Saina kept winning points at regular intervals to bag the first game at 21-13.

The Indian looked to be in control of the proceedings in the second set but Juan bagged some crucial points midway through the second set to notch up a 15-10 lead. Saina could never bridge the gap as the 23rd ranked Singaporean coasted to a 21-12 win.

Saina started the decider well and gained a 5-2 lead. Juan fought back not just to level things but pulled ahead at 9-7. The Indian brought things on an even kneel at 10-10.

Saina collected three points to bag a 13-11 lead before Juan levelled things at 15-15. From there on, the Singaporean rattled along to 19-15 but Saina won three consecutive points to make it 18-19. Juan did not leave anything to chance, winning the final two points to close out the game at 21-19.

HS Pranoy and K Srikanth are two Indian hopes remaining – they play their third round men’s singles matches later today.

It may be mentioned here that Saina had won the Thailand Open last year. She had earlier beaten Indonesia’s Febby Angguni in straight games 21-12, 21-11 in the second round.

It may be pertinent to mention that the Indian shuttlers had capped off a fine run in the Yonex Sunrise Indian Open held in New Delhi.

India’s Anand Pawar reached the men’s singles semifinals where he was outclassed by Japan’s Kenichi Tago. PV Sindhu reached the women’s singles semifinals where she went down to Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon.

As five Indians reached the men’s singles quarterfinals – besides Anand Pawar, Ajay Jayram, RMV Gurusaidutt, HS Pranoy and B Sai Praneeth lived up to the home fan’s expectations.

In fact, two Indians made it to the women’s singles quarterfinals – Arundhati Pantawane made the last-eight grade along with Sindhu.

However, the country’s top men and women singles players – Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal have had a disappointing 2013 so far.