Saina bows out of Indonesian Open

It was a bittersweet day for India at the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Friday. Parupalli Kashyap rallied to shock World No. 1 Chen Long to enter the men’s singles semifinals. But world no.1 Saina Nehwal bowed out with a quarterfinal loss to familiar foe Wang Shixian.

Kashyap, ranked 12th in the world, came from behind to beat the top seed Chinese 14—21 21—17 21—14 in a contest that lasted an hour and three minutes. He will take on third-seeded Dane Jan O Jorgensen.

“Big win today ! Thru to semis now. Keep supporting,” Kahsyap tweeted.

However, Saina, who has won this tournament thrice in her career, went down 21—16 12—21 18—21 to old foe Wang Shixian of China in a 69-minute battle. This was the 13th face-off between the two and Wang has a 7—6 overall lead now.

Saina snatched the momentum quite early as she raced to a 11—5 lead and built on it quite aggressively to clinch the opening game in 30 minutes.

But the experienced Wang roared back in the second game to draw level and make the battle interesting.

Saina had the initial edge in the decider, grabbing a 6—3 lead but Wang did not allow her to run away with it by making it 6—6.

A see-saw battle followed and the two players were locked 8—8 before Saina nosed ahead with a 15—10 lead. However, Wang fought back yet again to draw level at 15—15 and 17—17.

The Chinese star took the lead from there on and held her nerves to outwit the Indian, who has triumphed here in 2009, 2010 and 2012.