Asian games: Saina wins,but other shuttlers disappoint

Saina,seeded behind world number one Wang Xin of China,took 14 minutes each to wrap up the two games and led her opponent comfortably in both. She was sharp in her net play and also got her smashes going strong.

The 20-year-old Hyderabadi,who got a first round bye,would meet the winner of Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong,the world number 12 and sixth seed,and Pai Hsiao Ma of Taipei for a place in the last four.

But Kashyap,ranked 31 globally,proved unequal to the task of overcoming his first round rival and fifth seed Nguyen Tien Minh and was beaten 21-14,22-20 by the world number eight Vietnamese.

In women’s singles,Aditi Mutatkar fought her heart out against her fourth seed Japanese Eriko Hirose but the world number 11 was too hot to handle for the Indian as she lost 22-20 8-21 12-21 in the pre-quarterfinals here.

Again lack of fitness and stamina took a toll on the Indian’s performance as she was totally drained with her effort in the opening game that lasted 19 minutes.

Aditi was easily subdued in the second by her rival in 1l minutes. She did tried to fight back in the third but was finally beaten.

Arvind Bhat,ranked 43rd in the world and a replacement for the injured India number one Chetan Anand,did not have to struggle much as his first round opponent,Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne,gave him a walk-over into the last 16.

Among others,India’s mixed doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan gave Japan’s Shintaro Ikeda and Shiota Reiko a tough time in their first round encounter before losing 22-20,2-17,21-12.

The exertions made in the opening game that lasted 19 minutes fagged out the Indian duo,which lost tamely in the next two and got eliminated.

It was also curtains for India’s best men’s doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas,who were given an uphill task of taming the world number combo of Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong.

The Indian pair tried their bit before losing 15-21 19-21 to the Malaysian pair in a 30-minute battle.

Another men’s doubles pair of Arun Vishnu and Akshay Dewalkar also could not make it to the quarterfinals as the Indian pair lost 21-14 21-14 to Korean combo of Jaesung Chung and Yongdae Lee in another match.