PTI
Jakarta
Olympic-bound ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was dispatched by World No 1 Carolina Marin of Spain in the quarter-finals of the USD 900,000 Indonesia Super Series Premier in Jakarta on Friday.
London Olympic bronze medallist, Saina, who has won the Indonesia title three times in the past, failed to breach the defence of Carolina and lost 22-24, 11-21 to the All England and World Champion after a 47-minute battle in women's singles competition.
Eight-seed Saina had lagged behind 7-13 in the opening game at one stage but the Indian showed tremendous grit to fight back and grab the lead 16-14 and then 19-16, only to let the advantage slip as the Spaniard earned the bragging rights. In the second game, Saina was no where as the top seed dominated right from the start and kept distancing herself from the Indian to comfortably shut the door on the 25-year-old from Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, the Indian doubles team disappointed, as veterans Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were decimated by the Chinese pair of Yaqiong Huang and Jinjua Tang in the women's doubles, losing to them by margins of 9-21, 18-21. The men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy on the other hand, lost to the sixth-seeded duo of Sung Hyun Ko and Baek Cheol Shin 18-21, 13-21.
