Saina Nehwal crashed out earlier at Indian Open Super Series

Top seeded Saina Nehwal has the weight of a nation on her shoulders for the second year running, after her Commonwealth success. But there were ups and downs for locals in Delhi for the kick-off of the main draw in the India Open in Delhi.

The first ever Super Series held in Delhi, the Yonex Sunrise India Open Badminton Championships such as a terrible tournament for her. The top seed Saina Nehwal playing well having won the Swiss Open GP gold recently, crashed out 17-21, 19-21 to Japan’s Ai Goto in the women's singles first round at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Wednesday Apr 27.

Saina said, "It was not my day. She was playing so well. I could not read her game. She was good at the net and with half court smashes. She was getting it right with every stroke."

“She caught me by surprise with her strong play. She retrieved everything I sent to her and she kept the shuttle low. She also was strong in her smashes which I didn’t expect,” Saina told local press.

The 21-year-old from India has been troubled by an ankle injury for the past few months. Saina also looked completely under-perform against her determined opponent.

“The [ankle] injury is not an excuse as I have been training and playing with it before. I just couldn’t find the answers to her play and I made too mistakes.”

This results went as more or less expected. With Saina’s defeat, this tournament came to an abrupt end as the other five local: Sayali Gokhale, Trupti Murgunde and the rising junior badminton star all made it to the main draw by winning both their qualifying round matches have also crashed out.

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