Saina Nehwal crashes out of the Macau Open

Indian Badminton star Saina Nehwal exited the Macau open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with a loss in the Quarterfinals. She went down against an inexperienced and unseeded Chinese opponent, Zhang Yiman. The short two-set affair lasted only about 34 minutes.

Saina had lost all her first round games so far in the tournament and the similar happened today. The Chinese played some dominant badminton from the word go and took a lead of 11-8 halfway. The pressure was on the Indian who could not make a comeback in the game. The first game ended 21-12.

 

Also Read

India beat Netherlands at Squash Championship

 

Saina looked positive in the second game with an initial lead of 5 points. But the 19-year-old Chinese left no stone unturned in her efforts. She fought back to gain a lead of 11-9 halfway. Ultimately she took the game home with the score reading 21-17 ensuring another quarter-exit for Saina Nehwal.

Saina is not in the peak of her foam after making a comeback from the knee injury. She crashed out of the Hong Kong Open at a similar stage and suffered a first round loss at the China Open.

With this, B Sai Praneeth is the only Indian left in the tournament. He faces Chinese Zhao Jun Peng later today.