Mumbai: It was a mixed day for Indians at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Thursday. On one side, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth faced onslaughts to make it to the quarterfinals, on the other side, Parupalli Kashyap and the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy bowed out of the tournament.
Former World No. 1 Saina bounced back from a game down to see off Dinar Dyah Ayustine from Indonesia, 17-21, 21-18, 21-12 in a match which lasted over an hour in the women’s singles competition here. Saina took a 11-7 lead in the opening game to see Ayustine move ahead and win the first game. However, a very confident Saina put forward a better performance in the second game as she went so fast to a 11-3 lead at the break.
Ayustine slowly and steadily bridged the gap after interval and at a point the scores equalled at 18-18 but the Indian ensured there was no hiccup as she bounced back into the contest. In the decider, it was the Indonesian shuttler who held a slender 4-2 lead early on but Saina turned the tables at 5-5 and moved ahead, opening up a 11-8 lead at the interval. Saina then took four points back to back to extend the lead and eventually sealed the match with another four-point burst.
However, it was a disappointment for Kashyap and the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy. Where Kashyap, who is on a comeback trail, put up a glorious fight before losing 13-21, 20-22 to Lin Yu Hsien of Chinese Taipei in a 45-minute duel, the Third seeds Manu and Sumeeth also fought hard before going down 20-22, 19-21 to Singapore’s Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya.
London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina is all set to face China’s Zhang Yiman in the quarter finals and this might become the tournament of her comeback after her failed performances at some past tournaments.