Saina Nehwal enters semifinal in style

NEW DELHI: It was just the kind of performance the home fans needed from Saina Nehwal following the disappointment of watching top seeds V. Diju and G. Jwala make a premature exit from the Badminton Asia championship on Friday.

Against the seventh seed Mew Choo Wong, Saina, produced a sterling performance that looked even better against the off-colour Malaysian.

In fact, the scoreline of 21-5, 21-13 left even Saina surprised after the 29-minute quarterfinal that never lived up to the promise of being a closely-fought battle. Saina, the first Indian to reach the semifinal, is known for her aggressive ways but it was her defence that stood out on this day. Earlier, Aditi Mutatkar's fine run came to an end after she ran into another Chinese qualifier Xin Liu and lost in straight games.

Home fans disappointed

Though third seeded men's pair Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar failed to live up to their seeding and lost rather listlessly to their Korean rivals after winning the first game, it was the defeat of Diju and Jwala that hurt the small crowd of supporters at the Siri Fort Complex. After racing away with the first game against little-known Chinese pair of Zihan Qiu and Qing Tian, Diju and Jwala lost the plot in the remainder of the 48-minute match.