Friday, March 11, 2011

Saina in quarterfinals of England Open-2011

India's star badminton player & best hope at the England Open-2011, Saina Nehwal, reached the quarter-finals of the tournament defeating Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the 2nd round.

Nehwal defeated Tzu Ying Tai in 2 straight sets 21-17, 21-17 raising her game at crucial junctures of the match.

Earlier in the first round, Saina overcame the surprisingly fast drift on both sides of the court (usually if the drift on one side is fast, then on the other side its slow) to get past Seung Hee Bae of Korea, who was her first round opponent.

Saina Nehwal is drawn to play against Eriko Hirose of Japan in the quarter-finals. All other Indians have already crashed out of the England Open, and Saina is now the lone Indian flag-bearer left.

In the other interesting & dramatic 2nd round developments, top seed Shixian Wang got a walkover from her Chinese compatriot Xin Lu, while 3rd seed Xin Wang, also of China got a walkover from another Chinese opponent Xuerui Li.

More high drama was also seen in the men's singles, where top seed Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia who was in his hotel room got barely an hours notice to prepare & report for his 2nd round match against the dangerous opponent Chunlai Bao of China. To his credit, Chong did not let this affect his performance in the match winning 21-16, 21-16. However he later avoided speaking to the media, and rushed away.

From the quarter-final stage competition in all events will be intense, and spectators can expect a lot of action-packed drama on court in the remainder of the All England Open-2011.



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