New Delhi, April 17: India’s Saina Nehwal failed to get the measure of her Chinese opponent Xuerui Li as she went down 17-21, 11-21 in the semi-final of women’s singles Badminton Asia Championships here Saturday.
With her loss, the Indian challenge in the championships is over. Top seeded Saina had her chances in the first game but was outplayed in the second by the unseeded Chinese in the one-sided 31-minute contest to stun the sizeable turn out at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
China’s tremendous bench strength was in show as despite the country’s top five world ranked players missing the tournament, it will be an all-Chinese affair in the final.
Li will take on qualifier Xin Liu, who took out the second seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong 21-15, 21-18 in the other semi–final.
–IANS