JOIN USIndian eves enter semis
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal set the ball rolling but it was Sayali who was the star performer for India as she won the most crucial match to help India beat Chinese Taipei 3-2 and enter the last four stage.
Setting the tone, world number seven Saina swept past Chen Hsiao Huan 21-15, 21-14 in the first match but doubles pair of Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian lost the next match 21-11, 14-21, 18-21 to Chien Yu Chin and Wang Pei Rong in 38 minutes.
Level at 1-1, former national champion Sayali took the court in the third match and produced a brilliant game of badminton to see off Hung Shih Han 15-21, 21-10, 23-21 in 48 minutes to put India ahead 2-1.
Experienced doubles player Jwala Gutta then teamed up with Aswini Ponnappa to beat Cheng Wen Hsing and Chang Hsin Yun 21-16, 21-16 in 25 minutes as India took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the tie.
The last match was played by Trupti Murgunde but the national champion could not get past Pai Hsiao Ma and lost 14-21, 12-21 in 26 minutes.
The Indian women team will play Indonesia on Saturday in the semifinals of the Uber Cup.
“It was a great match. I never expected that we would come so far but thanks to the team we made it. Everybody played very well,” Saina said from Thailand.
However, the men’s team lost their semifinal match against formidable South Korea. They will next play in the third place play off tomorrow against Japan, who lost to Indonesia in the other semifinal.
World number 30 Parupalli Kashyap failed to give India a positive start as the diminutive Indian lost 16-21, 17-21 to Park Sung Hwan in 36 minutes.
The doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Akshay Dewalkar also had a bad day in office and the duo went down 10-21, 20-22 to Jung Jae Sung and Hwang Ji Man inside half an hour as India lagged behind 0-2.
In the third match, Arvind Bhat raised some hopes of a comeback as he brushed aside Shon Wan Ho 21-13, 21-15 in exactly 30 minutes to make it 1-2 but V Diju and Rupesh Kumar couldn’t make it count.
The experienced duo squandered a first game lead to lose 21-16, 15-21 9-21 against Ko Sung Hyun and Yoo Yeon Seong.