World No. 4 and top-seeded Saina Nehwal pulled out of the India Open Grand Prix badminton championship on Wednesday morning citing an injured right ankle. There was lot of action off the court when physio Kiran and Saina Nehwal were engaged in desperate efforts to gauge the intensity of the swollen right ankle.
Saina gave the impression that she would not mind playing even if half-fit in this event. But, chief National coach Pullela Gopi Chand was in no mood to take any risk ahead of the demanding schedule next year, which also happens to be the year of qualification for the 2012 London Olympics and advised Saina rest.
Meanwhile, P. Kashyap outclassed Sameer Verma 21-11, 21-14 in 22 minutes in a second round match. Kashyap was near-flawless with his trademark smashes and wonderful net-game to get the better of his opponent. Earlier, Yuekun Chen of China knocked out eighth-seeded R.M. Guru Sai Dutt in a first round match.
The 20-year-old Guru Sai Dutt, who was a semifinalist in the India Open Grand Prix in Chennai early this year, showed flashes of brilliance but was never really able to get his act together against the Chinese opponent who had the ability to change the pace of the game.
Late in the evening, junior National champion P. Sindhu was off to an impressive start with a 21-7, 21-12 win over Ali Sultana of Bangladesh.
There were lots of problems for the players due to faulty laying of the Hova courts with most of the matches being interrupted for quite a while and the Sai Praneeth-Arvind Bhat match was played on three different courts because of the uneven surface.
The results: Men: Second round (Indians unless specified): Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka (Ina) bt K. Tanishak 21-14, 21-14; P. Kashyap bt Sameer Verma 21-11, 21-14.
First round: Tanishak bt Amila Chamin Fernando (SL) 21-9, 21-4; S.D. Krishna bt Omesh Fernando (SL) 21-16, 21-10; Qiao Bin (Chn) bt Sourabh Verma 16-21, 21-17, 21-19; Takuma Ueda (Jpn) bt Oscar Bansal 21-9, 21-7; Aditya Elgano bt Ratnajeet Tamang (Nep) 21-16, 21-9; Sameer Verma bt Febrivan Irvannaldy (Ina) 21-14, 15-21, 21-17.
H.S. Prannoy bt Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (Ina) 21-18, 21-18; Tanvir Gill bt Parash Md. Ahsun Habib (Ban) 21-15, 21-10; B. Sumeeth Reddy bt Alex Pang (Can) 21-8, 21-12; Ali Shahhoesseini (Iri) bt Vipul Saini 21-12, 21-15; Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) bt Guranshu Chopra 21-5, 21-10; K. Srikanth bt Arif Ramadhan (Ina) 15-21, 21-13, 21-18; Vikram Saini bt Mohdammed Jahed Mostafa (Ban) 15-21, 21-18, 21-18; Aditya Prakash bt Bikash Shrestha (Nep) 21-18, 21-6; Chen Yuekun (Chn) bt Guru Sai Dutt 21-14, 13-21, 21-19; Sukamta Evert (Ina) bt Manish Gupta 21-14, 21-9; K Ajay Kumar bt Nuwan Hettiarachi (SL) 23-21, 21-18; Nagendra bt Md Raisuddin (Ban) 21-12, 21-11; Zi Liang Derek Wong (Sing) bt Pratul Joshi 21-7, 21-14; Sagar Chopda bt Ari Trisnanto (Ina) 21-12, 21-18; Rohan Castelino bt Enavetullah Khan (Ban) 21-8, 21-8; Arvind Bhat bt Sai Praneeth 17-21, 21-19, 21-16; Suppanyu Avihingasnon (Tha) bt Ajit Wijetilek 21-8, 21-12; Rivanto Subagja (Ina) bt Prem Singh 21-11, 21-7.
Women: Prajongjai Rawinda (Tha) bt Dhanya 18-21, 21-16, 21-12; Maria Elfira Christina (Ina) bt Gayatrik Vartak 21-17, 21-18; Febby Angguni (Ina) bt Saili Rane 8-3 (retd); Belaetrix Manuputi (Ina) bt P.C. Thulasi 21-13, 21-13; Sayali Gokhale bt Nichaon Jindapon (Tha) 21-19, 21-12; Zhou Hui (Chn) bt Desi Hera 21-14, 21-15; Xiao Jia Chen (Chn) bt Mohita Sachdev 21-10, 21-9.
Ana Rovita (Ina) bt Chitralekha 21-14, 21-14; Neha Pandit bt Thilini Jayasinghe (SL) 21-19, 20-22, 21-11; Renna Suwarno (Ina) bt Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-18, 21-17; Mudra Dahinje bt Sampada Sahastrabuddhe 21-18, 21-10; Anita Ohlan bt Renu Chandrika Hettiarachchige 21-14, 21-19; Fransiska Ratnasari (Ina) bt Juhi Dewangan 21-12, 21-7; P.V. Sindhu bt Alina Sultana (Ban) 21-7, 21-12.
