India’s journey ends in India Open with Saina’s defeat

New Delhi (Best Hindu News): Hosts India’s journey at the India Open 2023 on Thursday came to an end after two-time Olympic gold medalist Saina Nehwal suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Chen Yu Fei of China.

Chen defeated Saina 21-9, 21-12 in a match that lasted just 32 minutes at the KD Jadhav Hall of the Indira Gandhi Stadium. On the other hand, India’s star shuttler and world championship medalist Lakshya Sen crashed out of the tournament after losing to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the second round.

A thrilling contest that lasted one hour and 21 minutes at the KD Jadhav Hall saw a nail-biting contest till the last point, but Gemke eventually won 16-21, 21-15, 21-18. The defending India Open champion Lakshya started the match strongly and took an 11-10 lead going into the break in the first game. The goal after the break did not give Gameco a chance to come back and won the first game 21-16.

However, in the second game, the Danish player showed stamina and led 11-9 at the break. Gameke took advantage of the goallessness after the break to take the match to the decider.

In the last game, both the players raised the level of the contest a bit more. GameK took advantage of unforced errors in the first goal to take an 8-1 lead. The goal came back before the break and shortened GameK’s lead to 11-7. After the break, there were long rallies between Lakshya and Gemke. When the target was trailing 15–17, the two players went on a 69-shot rally, though Gemke won the rally to take an 18–15 lead.

Lakshya then earned two points but a poor serve from him cost Gameco a valuable point and serve. After Gemke got the game point, the two players went on another long rally, which ended with Lakshya hitting the shuttle out of the court and Gemke basking in the joy of victory.

Gameke then hugged the goalie on the other side of the net and congratulated him for a good fight. The Danish player will face his compatriot Viktor Axelsen in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, the Indian men’s doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garg and Vishnuvardhan Panjla bowed out of the tournament after losing to China’s Liang Weikang and Wang Chang.

The Weikong-Chang pair defeated the Indian pair in straight games 21-14, 21-10 in a 33-minute match. The Chinese pair dominated their Indian rivals from the start in this tie. Weikeng-Chang were only leading 13-12 at one stage in the first game but took advantage of the poor coordination of the Indian pair to score consecutive points and win the game 21-14.

Garg and Panjla started the second game better and attacked in harmony. After scoring the first two points well, the Indian pair was not quick enough to defend their territory on the court and the Chinese pair attacked the empty spaces to win both the game and the match 21-10.

It is noteworthy that the men’s doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag has already been ruled out of the tournament due to a groin injury to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. The defeat of Garg-Panjala ended the Indian challenge in the men’s doubles competition.

Meanwhile, India’s journey in the women’s doubles competition also ended with a second round loss to Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. China’s Zhang Shuxian and Zeng Yu defeated Trisha-Gayathri 21-9, 21-16.