Jayaram, Kashyap, Neha too surge ahead
New Delhi Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up a comfortable straight- game victory over Hong Kongs Pui Yin Yip to start her India Open Super Series campaign on a positive note, here on
Wednesday. The world number five Saina hardly broke a sweat and wrapped up the match inside half an hour, beating the Hong Kong girl 21- 14 21- 6 to set up a clash with Koean Youn Joo Bae in the womens singles.
Aiming to qualify for the London Olympics, Ajay Jayaram and P Kashyap scored contrasting victories in their opening matches in the mens singles at the Siri Fort Sport Complex. World number 27 Ajay Jayaram saw off compatriot Sourabh Varma 21- 15, 17- 21, 21- 11 in a 55- minute match to keep his Olympic qualification bid on track. The Mumbai shuttler will take on world number one Lee Chong Wei in the second round today.
His compatriot P Kashyap also kept his hopes alive by notching up a comfortable 21- 11, 21- 14 victory over Belgium Yuhan Tan to set up a clash with Boonsak Poonsana of Thailand. In other womens singles matches, Neha Pandit crossed the first hurdle, beating Malaysian Jing Yi Tee 21- 18, 9- 21, 21- 19 in a 48- minute match, while P V Sindhu notched up a 17- 21, 19- 21 win over Chinese Taipeis Tzu Ying Tai.
In mens doubles competition, Manish Gupta and Gaurav Venkat prevailed over compatriot Sanjeeth S and Jagadish Yadav 21- 14, 15- 21, 21- 15, while top Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also reached the second round after their top seed opponents Jae Sung Jung and Yong Dae Lee of Korea gave a walkover.
However, it was curtains for world number 16 Indians V Diju and Jwala Gutta, who were looking to book a berth for the London Olympics. The Indian duo lost 18- 21, 19- 21 to Chinese pair of Tao Jiaming and Xia Huan in a 35- minute match.
Saina was in Command throughout the match as she opened up a 11- 5 lead.
Yip tried to claw her way back but couldnalt39t threaten the Indian as she surged to a 20- 13. Although the Hong Kong girl saved a match point, Saina sealed the game comfortably at 21- 14.
The 22- year- old Indian played some deft drops and sharp smashes and made her rival run across the court with good rallies.
Even though she missed a few points, Saina never looked out of sort. After leading 11- 5, the Indian conceded just one point before sealing the issue in her favour.
In the mixed doubles competition, Jwala and Diju started off slowly but had their nose ahead at 11- 10 at the break in the first game.
They lost a few points but with the Chinese succumbing to some unforced errors, the Indians bounced back to join them at 15- 15 and moved to 17- 17, and also had taken a 18- 17 lead. But a shot at the net and a couple of misjudgements cost them the game. In the second game, the Indians opened up a 4- 1 lead but the Chinese slowly clawed back at 4- 4 after a wrong service by the visitors were awarded to them. Jwala struggled against the fast smashes of the Chinese and also her returns went wayward even though Diju provided good cover at the back of the court.
The Chinese moved into the break at 11- 10 but the Indians came back to lead 17- 14. But they once again blew the 3- point lead as the Chinese closed the match after Diju hit the shuttle at the nets.
Deeply hurt after the defeat, Jwala said she couldnalt39t give her best today as she was put off by the lastminute shift of her match.
” I didnalt39t play well today. My match was shifted at the last minute without informing us. There were two more matches ahead of our match and it was me who went to the referre and asked and he gave us 15 minutes to get ready. Now can you hurry and warm up. It put me off completely,” she said.” I donalt39t want to blame but why this lack of coordination. Such stupid things can happen in a small tournament, not in a super series. I hope such things doesnalt39t happen again. I couldnalt39t give my 100 per cent. Playing well and losing is different but you canalt39t win
