Indian challenge ends at India Open

Both RMV Guru Sai Dutt, and Sourabh Verma lost in their quarterfinal matches, and with it the Indian challenge at the Yonex Sunrise India Open Super Series-2011 badminton tournament being held at Siri Fort complex in New Delhi, came to an end.

Other Indian players in the fray, had already lost in the earlier rounds. Most unexpected for the home spectators, was top seeded Saina Nehwal's loss in the first round, as also of the 8th seeded womens doubles pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa and the mens doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar/Sanave Thomas.

However Guru Sai Dutt and Sourabh Verma, both wards of the Gopichand badminton academy at Hyderabad, ensured that the Indian spectators and home crowd had something to cheer about till the quarter-final rounds at least.

In the quarter-finals, 19 year old Sourabh Verma lost to World No.1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in straight sets 21-7, 21-8, while RMV Guru Sai Dutt lost to 8th seed Yun Hu of Hong Kong.

With these losses, the Indian challenge has come to an end.

Men's Singles - Semi-finalists:
Lee Chong Wei - Malaysia
Yun Hu - Hong Kong
Peter Hoeg Gade - Denmark
Sung Hwan Park - Korea

Women's Singles - Semi-finalists:
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk - Thailand
Pui Yin Yip - Hong Kong
Youn Joo Bae - Korea
Sayaka Sato - Japan

Men's Doubles - Semi-finalists:
Kien Keat Koo/ Boon Heong Tan - Malaysia
Hirokatsu Hashimoto/ Noriyasu Hirata - Japan
Alvent Yulianto Chandra/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan - Indonesia
Angga Pratama/ Ryan Agung Saputra - Indonesia
Women's Doubles - Semi-finalists:
Miyuki Maeda / Satoko Suetsuna - Japan
Meiliana Jauhari / Greysia Polii -Indonesia
Lok Yan Poon/ Ying Suet Tse -Hong Kong
Mizuki Fujii / Reika Kakiiwa - Japan
Mixed Doubles - Semi-finalists:
Muhammad Rijal / Debby Susanto - Indonesia
Tantowi Ahmad / Liliyana Natsir - Indonesia
Fran Kurniawan / Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth - Indonesia
Peng Soon Chan / Liu Ying Goh - Malaysia
.