New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal led India to the quarter-finals of Uber Cup with a crushing 4-1 victory over Hong Kong but it was curtains for their male counterparts in the Thomas Cup after they lost to Korea 2-3 here on Monday.
World number eight Saina hardly broke a sweat in zooming past Pui Yin Yip 21-9 21-10 as Indian women looked in fine fettle in their bid to reach the semi-finals. Eleventh ranked, P V Sindhu was equally dominant, whipping Ying Mei Cheung 21-8 21-10, while PC Thulasi too prevailed over Hung Yung Chan 19-21 21-16 21-7 in the third singles.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa too fired in their doubles competition, prevailing over Hoi Wah Chau and Lok Yan Poon 21-17 21-13 in half an hour. However, other doubles pair of Siki Reddy and Pradnya Gadre lost 14-21 11-21 to Tsz Ka Chan and Ying Suet Tse as India finished with a 4-1 scoreline.
India next take on Thailand in Group Y. The Indian women had lost to Indonesia in the quarterfinals in 2010 but failed to qualify for the knockout stage in the last edition in China. In Group Y, Thailand also qualified for the knockout stage after thrashing Canada 5-0. Among others In the women's section, Denmark got the better of Malaysia 3-2 while Japan hammered Germany 5-0 to open their account in Group Z.
While the Indian women inched closer to their target, the men team's campaign at the Thomas Cup came to a premature end at the Siri Fort Sports complex here. Indian men needed to win all their singles matches and skipper Parupalli Kahyap and RMV Gurusaidutt produced brilliant performances to do their job but young Kidambi Srikanth failed to win the first singles earlier in the day.
Indian men will play their inconsequential third tie of Group C against Germany on Wednesday. The result meant former champions Malaysia and Korea qualified for the knockout stage from Group C. Malaysia defeated Germany 4-1 in another tie.
The home team did not get the start they were looking for as world number 18 Srikanth squandered a one-game advantage to go down fighting 21-17 12-21 18-21 to the world number nine Wan Ho Son in an hour and 11 minutes match in the crucial first singles.
B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri tried their best and led 18-14 in the first game but they let the opportunity slip and eventually ended with a 18-21 17-21 loss against Yeon Seong Yoo and Yong Dae Lee as India trailed 0-2. Captain of the side, Parupalli Kashyap kept his team in the hunt with a comfortable 21-17 21-14 win over Lee Dong Keun in the second singles.
However, the doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra lost 16-21 16-21 to world number four combo of Kim Sa Rang and Kim Ki Jung within half an hour in the next match as India lost the tie 1-3. RMV Gurusaidutt once again came up with a stellar performance to register a 24-22 21-13 win over Hwang Jong Soo in the third singles as India finished with a 2-3 scoreline.
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