Saina beaten, India out of mixed team event in Asian Juniors

Kuala Lumpur, July 4 (UNI) Saina Nehwal lost a close match as India made an early exit from the team event of the Asian Junior Badminton Championship after fourth seeded Indonesia thrashed them 3-0 here today.

Saina, after winning the first game against Pia Zebadiah Bernadet, ran out of steam in the second and third games and lost the match 19-21, 21-16, 21-18.

Earlier in the boy's singles, Jishnu Sanyal went down fighting to Bandar Sigit Pamungkas 16-21, 21-16, 19-21.

Trailing 0-2, Indian duo of Jishnu and Akshay Dewalker proved no match for the Indonesian pair of Fernando Kurniawan and Subakti who won 21-13, 21-16 to wrap up the best-of-five match.

In women's singles, which begin tomorrow, Saina is a strong contender for the title and she has been seeded second behind world number 39 Jang Soo Young of South Korea.

The Hyderabadi teenager, who became the first Indian woman to win a four-star event at the Philippines Open, is now ranked 42 in the world.

In other mix team event matches, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and China won their matches against Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam and Singapore respectively with identical 3-0 margins, while North Korea beat Kazakhstan 3-1.

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