Saina, Sindhu exit Badminton Asia Championships

The Indian challenge in the Badminton Asia Championships ended as Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu were beaten in the quarter-finals in Wuhan on Friday.

World No 1 Saina lost to fifth seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 13-21, 18-21 in 55 minutes, while eighth seed Sindhu, playing her first tournament after missing the action last month, ran out of steam against top seed Li Xuerui of China and lost 21-11, 19-21, 8-21 in 52 minutes in another women’s singles quarter-final at the Continental championship.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina had lost to Tzu five times previously and Friday was no different. She had to fight back after trailing 6-10 early on. After drawing level at 11, she, however, opened a 16-14 lead only to surrender it.

However, the Indian ace secured five consecutive points to snatch the opening game.

In the second, Tzu was too strong for Saina and raced to 14-7 with five straight points before taking the game at 21-13.

The decider was close. Tzu surged ahead 5-1 before the Indian battled her way and caught up at 17-17. However, that was all she could do as Tzu allowed her just one more point before wrapping up the match.

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 Li could not bridge.

In the second game too, Sindhu was 7-3 up but Li drew abreast at 9 and forged ahead 17-13.

Sindhu did narrow the gap to 19-20 but Li grabbed the next point to roar back into the contest.

In the decider, Sindhu just didn't have enough steam to challenge Li as the Chinese allowed her just eight points before completing formalities.