Olympic-bound Indian shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu won their respective women's singles matches to make a resounding start to their campaign at the Badminton Asia Championship here today.
Fifth seed Saina disposed off Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani 21-16 21-17, while Sindhu brushed aside another Indonesian Maria Febe Kusumastuti 21-10 21-13 in a half an hour contest in the opening round here.
In the next round, World No. 8 Saina will face the winner of the match between Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri and Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol, while ranked 10th Sindhu will meet eighth seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
However, it was a bad day at office for other Indians in the fray here, the last event before the Olympic qualification deadline.
While Korean pair of Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee defeated India's Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-15 21-11 in women's doubles, men's doubles combo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 15-21 13-21 loss to fifth seeded Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa.
Another men's doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar also faced defeat, losing 19-21 17-21 to Or Chin Chung and Tang Chun Man of Hong Kong.
(REOPENS FGN 4)
Despite losing the final, Sindhu was pleased with her performance and said that it was just not her day.
"Good game overall. It was her day. I played well but she played well at the net, she didn't make any mistakes. There were good rallies. I'm happy with my performance. It's okay, I'll go back and train hard. It's been a good two tournaments. A bit upset, but overall it went well. I congratulate her for her win," Sindhu said.
"I've played her many times. She's a tricky player, has good strokes and deception. I was prepared for everything. But then one has to win and one has to lose. (Playing last week in China) It didn't affect me. I was confident because of that. I played the final here. It was anybody's game. It was her day, she played well."
World No. 43 Sameer too finished runners-up but said his maiden final finish boosted his confidence and he is now eyeing a place in the top 10 of BWF ranking.
"Happy to reach final, didn't expect to. While playing him, in second game I was ready to move him around the court. I got a bit tired in the third game after 11 points. Before the final, I was a bit nervous. I felt a bit of pressure today, but now now I'm confident of making the top ten. I felt tension because it's my first final. I talked to (brother) Saurabh yesterday," he said.
"I won the national title in April. I was very confident then of playing at top level. After nationals I got a shoulder injury and had to take a break of 2-3 months. It was a shoulder muscle tear. The shoulder injury affected me. After my comeback I played Thailand and Chinese Taipei and in Bitburger I lost in the semifinals," he added.
