Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth, the last two Indian survivors, were ousted from the All England Open Badminton Championship after going down fighting in their respective quarterfinal matches. With this, the Indian challenge came to an early end!
Srikanth was outclassed by world no.1 Kento Momota of Japan. Momota proceeded to the semis after clinching 21-12, 21-16 victory in a match that lasted only 44 minutes. The top seed in this tournament produced a coruscating display of power and control to prevent Srikanth from establishing any sort of dominance in the entire match.
In the women’s singles, Saina Nehwal succumbed to yet another defeat against Chinese Taipei shuttler Tai Tzu Ying. The match lasted for 37 minutes with Tai Tzu claiming 13th straight win against the Indian shuttler, 21-15,21-19. A late spirited challenge from Saina was not enough as Tai Tzu was resolute. Following two brilliant victories, much was expected from Saina but top seed Tai Tzu stopped the Indian in her strides with a brilliant victory. Saina, satisfied with her show, admitted that it could have been better. She also mentioned that she would have to come up with some sort of strategy in order to fare well against Tai Tzu when they meet again.
