Sindhu in quarters at India Open; Lin Dan out

New Delhi: In what is a rare scenario, two of the greatest players in the history of badminton — Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei — crashed out in the second round of the India Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Interestingly, it was on Court 2 of the Siri Fort courts where the badminton legends were sent packing in straight games. While the two-time Olympic champion Lin of China went down to Korea’s Son Wan Ho 13-21, 20-22 in 47 minutes, Lee — one of the crowd favourites and former world no. 1 — was stunned by the 14th ranked Wei Nan of Hong Kong 19-21, 19-21.

Moreover, three other top-10 men’s singles players — world no. 5 Dane Jan O Jorgensen, Chinese Tian Houwei (7) and Chou Tien Chen (8) — met the same fate on the day. Come next week when the BWF new ranking list is out, a major change in the men’s singles rankings is expected.

Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu kept the Indian hopes alive reaching the quarterfinals in the women’s category. World No.6 Saina overcame a first game scare to defeat Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapon 21-19, 21-14 in a 42-minute match.

Saina looked fine early in the first game before she made a few errors as Nitchaon nosed ahead 14-11, before the Indian levelled the scores 15-all. Saina then took over the proceedings with a few brilliant net flicks and smashes.

In the second game, Saina trailed but quickly picked up the pace with a few good placements. With a handful of crowd behind her, she hardly lost the rhythm to seal the match.

Earlier, Sindhu brought cheers to the Indian camp, who were disappointed by the early exits of home players including 2015 champion K. Srikanth.

Sindhu registered a come-from-behind 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungphan in a hard-fought 76-minute encounter.

“It was a close match and it is good to have a tough opponent early in the tournament because it helps you to adjust to conditions,” said Sindhu, who missed the event last year owing to a foot injury.

“I will be playing four tournaments after this event. I will look to get more consistent. There is a lot of ranking points are at stake and so we need to play more events before the Olympic qualification,” added Sindhu after the win.

Among the top women’s singles players, China’s Wang Shixian, Lee Xuerui also advanced but after surviving a scare while Thai fourth seed Ratchanok Intanon cruised with a 21-9, 21-4 win over home girl Rituparna Das.

Home players failed to get past the pre-quarter-finals stage in the mixed doubles and the men’s doubles, even as Mohita Sahdev and Sanjana Santhosh advanced in the women’s doubles. They defeated C.H. Poorn-ima and Rachita Sahdev 21-16, 21-7.