Saina storms into the semi-finals of Badminton Asia Championships

New Delhi, 16^th April 2010: Top seed Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal stormed her way to the semifinals at the Yonex Sunrise Asia Badminton Championships 2010 today. Saina defeated seventh seed Mew Choo Wong from Malaysia in straight sets of 21-5 and 21-13. Saina now meets unseeded Chinese shuttler Xuerei Li in the semi-finals tomorrow. The tournament that has participation of top shuttlers from 21 Asian countries is being played at the state-of-the-art Siri Fort Sports complex in the national capital.

Saina today stunned Malaysian shuttler Mew Choo Wong with her attacking play as she paved her way to the semifinals of the most prestigious Asian badminton championship.

“I lost to her in the Malaysian super series earlier and getting past her this time in straight sets was just an amazing feeling. It’s still hard to believe that I closed the first set 21-5 in my favour. I guess today I have played up to my mark and hope to stay this way till the last moment of the tournament. My decision to play lesser tournaments this year and invest time on my training has helped me immensely,” said Saina Nehwal after her win.

When asked about her views on the facilities at the stadium and about the playing conditions she further added, “Facilities have been good here. The drift also has been normal and the conditions are similar to any other stadium across the world.”

Top seed mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju today crashed out in the quarterfinals. Jwala and Diju lost to the Chinese pair of Zihan Qiu and Quing Tian in a tightly fought match. The match ended with a score of 15-21, 21-11, 21-14 on boards in favour of the Chinese pair.

“It was a tough match, but a few silly mistakes cost us dearly. Diju had a stiff back and so it was a little difficult for us to coordinate. We did play a fast match in the first set but in the second and third set we could not match up to their pace,” said Jwala after her loss.

Third seed men’s double pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas from India lost to the Korean pair of Sang Hoon Haan and Ji Man Wang. The Korean’s after loosing the first set 17-21 came back strongly winning the next two sets with a score of 21-16 and 21-15 on boards. In another match of the day Indian shuttler Aditi Mutatkar lost to Chinese Xin Liu in straight sets of 21-14 and 21-11 in the quarter finals.