Saina Nehwal Bows Out of BWF Superseries Finals Tournament After Losing to Tai Tzu Ying
India's Saina Nehwal bowed out of the BWF Superseries Finals by losing to defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 18-21, 14-21.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: December 11, 2015 07:59 PM IST
![Saina Nehwal Bows Out of BWF Superseries Finals Tournament After Losing to Tai Tzu Ying](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2015/dec/806/saina-nehwal-bwf-super-series-dubai.jpg)
India's Saina Nehwal lost her third and final round-robin game to defending champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 18-21, 14-21 to bow out of contention for the semi-finals of the BWF Superseries Finals. (Latest Badminton News)
Saina, who had lost her opening match to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 14-21, 6-21, bounced back in style to defeat world champion Carolina Marin to keep her hopes alive.
She started off in positive style against defending champion Ying by racing to 5-3 lead in the first game but the Chinese Taipei player bounced back to level the game 9-9. However, Saina maintained the intensity and raced ahead to a 20-13 lead before closing the first game 21-16.
In the second game, Ying regained her composure and raced to a 13-6 lead. Saina rallied back and she levelled the game at 16-16. However, Ying held her nerve and played the crucial moments well to seal the second game 21-18.
In the third game, Ying raced away to a 9-4 lead as Saina struggled with her fitness and loss in momentum. She hung in but the game drifted away and Ying sealed the game 21-14. With this loss, Saina's 2015 has ended on a disappointing note.
Saina has been plagued by fitness issues in this tournament, having admitted that she has not been able to train since injuring an achilles tendon three weeks ago.