Saina Nehwal out of Singapore Open-2011

4th seeded Saina Nehwal crashed out of Singapore Open-2011 Super Series badminton tournament yesterday, when she lost to World No.10 Shao Chieh Cheng of Chinese Taipei 21-8, 10-21, 19-21.

Saina Nehwal's loss in the women's singles event means that all the remaining Indian challenge at the Singapore Open-2011 has come to an end.

Other Indians who had already lost their way in the first round round of the Singapore Superseries, were Arundhati Pantawane, P.Kashyap in the women's and men's singkles, and the doubles pairs of Jwala Gutta & Ashwini Ponnappa, and Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas.

Almost 6 months of this new year 2011 have now gone by, and Saina Nehwal is yet to regain her golden form of last year. She has not been able to grab too many big titles so far this year, and her only success has been the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title.

On the contrary 2010 had been a great year for Saina, when she had won 3 back-to-back Superseries titles alongwith the Commonwealth Gold medal, and several other sterling performances that had catapulted her to the No.2 ranking in the world of badminton.

However all is not lost yet, and there are several other important tournaments still lined up. Coming up next is the Indonesia Open Superseries Premier that will be held from 21st to 26th June-2011.

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Singapore Open-2011 results day 2

Saina Nehwal was the lone Indian survivor left at the end of Day 2 of the Singapore Open-2011 Superseries badminton tournament being held at Singapore from 14th to 19th June 2011.

4th seeded Saina Nehwal defeated Lan Lu of China in a 3 set match, in the first round of the main draw of the Singapore Open-2011. Saina bt. Lan Lu by a score of 21-18, 13-21, 21-16.

World no.169 Arundhati Pantawane who had played well in the qualifying rounds yesterday to enter the main draw of the tournament could not get past the experienced world no.21 Tzu Ying Tai of the Chinese Taipei, losing in straight sets 16-21, 13-21.

However Arundhati is gaining good experience now at the top levels of badminton and her ranking will also increase due to her entry into the Super series main draw, defeating a top 50 player on the way. (The Superseries badminton tournaments are prestigious badminton events, in which the top 32 players of the world usually fight for the title)

In the men's singles of the Singapore Open-2011, 8th seed Sung Hwan Park of Korea defeated P. Kashyap of India in straight sets, by a score of 21-15, 21-14. Ajay Jayaram and RMV Guru Sai Dutt had already crashed out in the qualifying rounds yesterday and thus India's challenge in the men's singles has come to an end.

In the women's doubles the top Indian doubles badminton pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa could not get past the first round of the Singapore Open Superseries-2011, as they lost to Kyung Eun Jung & Ha Na Kim of Korea in straight sets 17-21, 14-21.

In the men's doubles also the Indian pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas failed to get past the Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo & Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan losing their match 17-21, 16-21.

With these results of the day, Saina Nehwal is now the lone Indian survivor left at the Singapore Open. She will now face the World No.11 Shao Chieh Cheng of the Chinese Taipei who defeated Bulgarian star Petya Nedelcheva in the first round.

In the other women's singles matches, the top seeded players from China, Shixian Wang, Yihan Wang, and Xin Wang all won their respective matches to enter the second round, while in the men's singles event both top seed Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia and 2nd seed Lin Dan of China got through to the next round of the Singapore Open-2011 Superseries badminton tournament.

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Singapore Open Super Series-2011

The Singapore Open-2011 (Singapore Open Superseries 2011) badminton tournament is being played at Singapore, from the 14th to 19th June 2011.

The Indian badminton  in the fray at this prestigious Super Series event of 2011 are:

Women's Singles:
Saina Nehwal who is the 4th Seed at the Singapore Open-2011.
Arundhati Pantawane - who will start here as a Qualifier, and will begin with the qualifying rounds.

Men's Singles:
RMV Guru Sai Dutt - Qualifier
Ajay Jayaram - Qualifier
P. Kashyap, has got direct entry into the main draw of the Singapore Open Superseries event.

Mens Doubles:
Rupesh Kumar/Sanave Thomas, have direct entry in the main draw of the tournament.

Women's Doubles:
Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa, have direct entry, but are not seeded at the Singapore Open SS tournament.

There is no Indian representation at the Mixed doubles. (Jwala Gutta's mixed doubles partner V.Diju has been out of action since some time now because of an injury)

Saina Nehwal currently ranked no.4 in the world, is the defending champion at the Singapore Open Superseries-2011, as she had won this badminton title last year in 2010. She has not won too many titles this year (just the Swiss Open GP Gold title) and would be looking forward to making a spirited performance at this tournament. Saina will be playing against Lan Lu of China in the first round of the tournament.

Shixian Wang is the top seed in the women's singles, and Taufik Hidayat the top seed in the men's singles event of the Singapore Open-2011 superseries badminton tournament.

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