Sports
Saina, Sindhu ousted from Asia Championships
Wuhan (China), April 24
The Indian challenge
at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championships came to an end following
the women's singles quarterfinal losses of Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu
here on Sunday.
World No.1 Saina lost to Chinese Taipei's Tzu
Ying Tai in three tough games, and eighth seed Sindhu went down to
reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in like manner at the Wuhan
Sports Center Gymnasium.
Fifth seed Tzu defeated World No.1
Saina 16-21, 21-13, 21-18 in 55 minutes to level her head-to-head to
5-all against the second seed. This is Tzu's third successive victory
over Saina.
Saina started well by clinching the first game but
could not sustain the momentum as she gifted the second game to her
opponent and ran out of steam towards the end of the third.
Later,
Sindhu, who is making a return to the circuit following a three-month
injury-layoff, took off in brilliant fashion by easily taking the first
game 21-11 against the top seed.
However, the Olympic champion
fought back to take the second game 21-19 and push the match into the
decider. In the third game, Xuerui totally dominated Sindhu to win the
game 21-8 and the match in 52 minutes.
This was Xuerui's second win over the Indian in three meetings.