Saina Nehwal enters World Championship quarterfinal

World No 6 Saina Nehwal stormed into the women’s singles quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championships even as compatriots Ajay Jayaram and the duo of V Diju and Jwala Gutta bowed out of the men’s singles and mixed doubles categories respectively at the Wembley Arena in London on Thursday night.

It was heartbreak for Mumbai lad Jayaram, who put up a gallant show against the sixth seed Chinese Jin Chen in his pre-quarterfinal tie. Jayaram, playing in his first-ever World Championships, surprised many by winning the first game but fizzled out in the remaining two games before losing eventually to his much experienced opponent 18-21 21-12 21-11 in a little over an hour.

There was no such trouble for Saina as her opponent Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong conceded the round of 16. Saina, who thus matches her best performance in a world championship, had won the first game 21-3 and was leading 13-5 in the second before 14th seed Pui pulled out due to an injury. The sixth seeded Indian now lines up a potential semifinal against Chinese third seed Xin Wang, who was slated to face Bulgaria’s Petya Nedelcheva later on Thursday. Xin enjoys a 3-1 record against Saina but the Indian had won the latest encounter when she downed the former at the Sudirman Cup two months back.

Jwala and Diju, meanwhile, lost to fifth seeded Danish pair of Joachim Fisher Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 21-9 21-15.

Lee, Lin progress
World No 1 Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan moved closer to a dream final when they reached the quarterfinals in contrasting styles. Lee was in supremely brilliant form in a 21-11 21-5 victory over Park Sung-Hwan, the ninth-seeded Korean, getting so completely on top that eventually the Malaysian was able to run through his entire range of tactical options.

Lin, however, had to work hard to win 21-16 21-13 against Lee Hyun-Il, the 12th seeded Korean, trailing for two-thirds of the first game. The Chinese player, often an explosive attacker whilst winning every major title in the game, was now obliged to dig deep in defence, and to lift and clear patiently during some lengthy rallies. —With agency inputs