Date:07/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/07/stories/2008030756231900.htm

Sport - Badminton

Saina bows out

Birmingham: Saina Nehwal gave her more-fancied rival a scare, before bowing out in the first round of the All England badminton championships here.

The 28th-ranked Saina fought tooth and nail against Yu Hirayama of Japan, ranked six places above her, before going down 18-21, 21-18, 18-21.

The draw did little favour to India as the women’s doubles pair of Shruti Kurian and Jwala Gutta was pitted against top-seeded Chinese combination of Yawen Zhang and Yili Wei, and was thrashed 3-21, 9-21.

With these losses, the Indian challenge ended with none of the shuttlers going beyond the first round, while Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian could not go beyond the second round of women’s singles qualifiers.

Other results:

Men: Singles: Bao Chunlai bt Chen Yu 21-11, 10-21, 21-18.

Women: Singles: Pi Hongyan bt Anna Rice 21-7, 22-20; Wang Chen bt Cheng Shao-Chieh 21-17, 14-21, 21-18. — PTI