In one of the rare upsets in her career, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal went down to young Ai Goto of Japan in straight games 17-21, 19-21 in a shock first round defeat in the $200,000 Indian Open Super Series yesterday
In one of the rare upsets in her career, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal went down to young Ai Goto of Japan in straight games 17-21, 19-21 in a shock first round defeat in the $200,000 Indian Open Super Series yesterday.
The young diminutive Japanese, who had not even taken a game off Saina in their three encounters, was in fantastic form. "I just wanted to keep the shuttle low and not allow her to attack. We (coach and she) studied her game thoroughly and I knew playing in front of the home crowd, Saina will be under pressure," said the Japanese through an interpreter.
Saina Nehwal at Indian Open yesterday
Goto never allowed Saina to lead. The Indian was always lagging behind by two points.u00a0 In the second game, Saina did try to hit through Goto, but the Japanese's impenetrable defence ensured the match was not pushed to the decider.
"I was sluggish and just not able to focus. I was not in the match at all... not happy with my movements. I was not having any injury or any other problems. It was just that she picked up everything... I ran out of ideas. My mind went blank," Saina told MiD DAY.
With all other Indian women crashing out in singles, Guru Sai Dutt came up with a stunner by knocking out fourth seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand 22-20, 18-21, 21-19. "Ponsana is very experienced and a top-10 player in world for last eight or nine years. Sai played the match of his life," said coach Pullela Gopichand.
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