Asiad 2018: Saina loses semi-final, settles for bronze

Jakarta: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal had to settle for the bronze after suffering a straight games defeat in her women's single semi-final clash at the 2018 Asian Games here on Monday. The 28-year-old Indian lost 17-21, 14-21 to World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan.

Saina's bronze is the first individual badminton medal at the Asiad for India in 36 years.

In a close fought match, Saina trailed 0-3 in the first game before making a comeback to draw at 10-10. However, her opponent took five consecutive points to take a 15-10 lead.

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Putting up a good fight yet again, Saina reduced the deficit to 15-16 but the Taiwan shuttler denied the Indian any further onslaught as she wrapped up the 19-minute affair 21-17.

In the second game, Tai once again raced to a 4-1 lead and some unforced errors from Saina helped her to increase her lead to 6-2.

Saina again fought back to level the scores at 6-6 and went into the break trailing 10-11. The issue went 15-14 in Tai's favour before the Taiwanese once again dominated the final few moments to seal the game 21-14 in her favour.

IANS