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Saina goes down tamely in quarter-finals

Last updated on: August 27, 2010 20:46 IST

Saina Nehwal crashed out of the World Badminton Championships, losing to No 6 seed Shixian Wang of China in the quarter-finals in Paris on Friday.

The second seeded Indian ace lost 8-21, 14-21.

Saina, who beat Russia's Ella Diehl in straight games on Thursday, was a shadow of herself and caved in tamely in 24 minutes.

She was beaten at the same stage in the last championships at Hyderabad.

The Chinese opened up a 3-0 lead in the first game and though Saina caught up at 6-all, Wang pocketed eight straight points to surge ahead. She allowed the Indian champions just two more points before pocketing the game.

Saina was more attacking in the second game despite the Chinese opening up an early lead and racing to 3-0. Though she did well to play catch up with her opponent, the Chinese judiciously dictated terms to cruise home at 21-14.

It was a bad day for India at the event, as the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju also lost; they were beaten by Korea's Sung Hyun Ko, seeded 12th, 16-21, 19-21.

Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also made an exit from the�women's doubles, losing to sixth seeds Jung Eun Ha and Ming Jung Kim 21-14, 21-15.

In the men's doubles, 15th seeds Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also failed to continue their good run, losing�to eighth seeds Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark 21-16, 21-16.