BWF World Championship – Indian Cul-de-sac in Paris; Saina falters in the quarter-finals, Jwala and Diju dumped as well
On a pristine day in Paris, the cauldron inside Stade Pierre de Coubertin was taken over by the Gallic spirits that so enchanted the world with their unflinching resistance in the face of might and muscle. And they churned out of it upset after mighty upset. It was a bleeding day when the script was tossed aside, along with the leading lights of the tournament. Saina Nehwal betrayed the hopes of a growing legion of fans, besides her own as she came unstuck against her Chinese opponent Shixian Wang. Saina was flat as a floater, in her 8-21 14-21 capitulation that lasted a mere 34 minutes. The Indonesian Taufik Hidayat rediscovered his magic and determination to outlast the world number one Lee Chong Wei 21-15 11-21 21-12, in a see-saw battle that went the distance. Three time champion Lin Dan also suffered an ignominious 21-13 21-13 defeat at the hands of the Korean Park Sung Hwan to round off a tumultuous day at the World Championships.
With the exit of the top ranked woman on Thursday, Saina had a great opportunity to seize the top spot with a couple of victories here, but sadly for her she had an off day at the wrong time. The contest with Wang was even for a while at the beginning and towards the end of the match, but the Chinese was dominant for the most part. In the first game, the score was tied at 6-6 before Wang raced away with 15 of the next seventeen points to snatch the initiative from Saina. The second game saw Wang get away to an 8-2 lead, before Saina dug deep to put up a modicum of resistance. But her fight came too late and the gap remained too far for the world number two to bridge. "My weakness was that I was not moving at all," she said. "Wang was quicker in her movements and she was more attacking at the net."