Popat storms into quarterfinals

Melbourne:

India's top shuttler Aparna Popat stormed into the women's singles quarterfinal scoring a major upset over defending champion Li Li of Singapore at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne on Thursday. Popat, the bronze medallist at the Manchester Games, hit back at her detractors coming back from a game down against the world number 19 to register a remarkable 10-21 23-21 21-17 victory at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. The world number 56 will now face Alice Elizabeth Cann of Jersey for a place in the semi-final. Saina crashes out However, the winning streak of teenage prodigy Saina Nehwal came to an abrupt end as she lost 21-14 13-21 6-21 to Xing Aiyang of Singapore. The other Indian in the fray, Trupti Murgunde also bowed out of the women's singles draw. Li Li succumbed to Indian opposition for the second time in three days after Saina shocked her in straight games in the mixed team event. Saina, the 97th ranked player in the world, who had not conceded a game in the mega-event so far, failed to capitalise on a one game lead to go down 21-14 13-21 6-21. (PTI)