The Hindu : Sport : Wang Lin sends Saina Nehwal packing

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Wang Lin sends Saina Nehwal packing

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Top seeds Mi Zhou and Lee Chong Wei bow out on a day of upsets

HYDERABAD: Sania Nehwal’s run in the BWF world badminton championship came to an end on Friday much to the dismay of the near-capacity crowd at the Gachibowli indoor stadium here on Friday.

Wang Lin of China defeated Saina 21-16, 21-19 in the women’s singles quarterfinal on a day of upsets as the top seeds in the men’s and women’s singles also bowed out.

Court No. II proved to be the graveyard for them all. First Mi Zhou (women’s World No.1) and later Lee Chong Wei (men’s World No. 1) and then Peter Gade (World No. 3) all lost their matches on that court.

Second-seeded Wang Lin, who had lost to the Indian girl in the Indonesian Super Series final recently, peaked at the right time to outsmart Saina, to avenge her earlier defeat.

India’s champion shuttler, who had entered the quarterfinal with a 18-21, 21-18, 21-10 win over Petya Nedelcheva, was ill at ease at the net in the first game which was thoroughly exploited by Wang, who time and again lured Saina to the net and got the better of her with delectable drops.

Sometimes Wang varied this approach and pushed Saina to the baseline to open up the court for telling smashes. Saina did execute some incredible cross-court down-the-line smashes but she was not consistent enough to make a difference.

Earlier in both men’s and women’s singles, Lee Chong Wei and Mi Zhou, both ranked World No. 1, were knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Lin Dan advances

In the most-eagerly awaited clash, defending champion Lin Dan overcame a spirited Peter Gade to march into the semifinal.

Earlier, India’s V. Diju and Jwala Gutta lost to the reigning world champions, second seeded Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia 16-21, 14-21, in the mixed doubles quarterfinal.

To the disappointment of the crowd the eighth-seeded Diju and Jwala failed to rise to the occasion.

The results: Quarterfinals: Men’s singles: Taufik Hidayat (Ina) bt Jan O. Jorgensen (Den) 21-19, 21-19; Jin Chen (Chn) bt Simon Santoso (Ina) 21-10, 21-13; Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Ina) bt Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-16, 14-21, 21-12; Lin Dan (Chn) bt Peter Gade (Den) 22-20, 21-16.

Women’s singles: Lan Lu (Chn) bt Tine Rasmussen (Den) 21-15, 21-13; Pi Hongyan (Fra) bt Juliane Schenk (Ger) 15-21, 21-15, 21-19; Xingfang Xie (Chn) bt Mi Zhou (Hkg) 21-15, 21-18; Wang Lin (Chn) bt Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-16, 21-19.

Men’s doubles: Yun Cai & Haifeng (Chn) bt Sang Hoon Han & Baek Choei Shin (Kor) 21-16, 21-18; Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif & Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari (Mas) bt Gun Woo Cho & Yeon Seong Yoo (Kor) 17-21, 21-12, 21-14; Kien Keat Koo & Boon Heong Tan (Mas) bt Howard Bach & Tony Gunawan (USA) 22-20, 13-21, 21-17; Jae Sung Jung & Yong Dae Lee (Kor) bt Zhen Dong Guo & Chen Xu (Chn) 21-17, 28-26.

Women’s doubles: Yawen Zhang & Tingting Zhao (Chn) bt Jung Eun Ha & Min Jun Kim (Kor) 21-9, 21-10; Jin Ma & Xiaoli Wang (Chn) bt Hyo Jung Lee & Kyung Won Lee (Kor) 21-18, 21-13; Jing Du & Yang Yu (Chn) bt Miyuki Maeda & Satoko Suetsana (Jpn) 21-17, 21-8; Shu Cheng & Yunlei Zhao (Chn) bt Weng Hsing Cheng & Yu Chin Chien (Tpe) 11-21, 21-11, 21-8.

Mixed doubles: Nova Widianto & Liliyana Natsir (Ina) bt V. Diju & Jwala Gutta (Ind) 21-16, 21-14; Joachim Fischer & Nielsen Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt Hanbin He & Yang Yu (Chn) 21-10, 21-17.

Yong Dae Lee & Hyo Jung Lee (Kor) bt Zhongbo Xie & Yawen Zhang (Chn) 21-16, 21-16; Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) bt Bo Zheng & Jin Ma (Chn) 22-20, 11-21, 22-20.

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