Syed Modi International: Saina Nehwal loses in final, settles for silver

Saina Nehwal, who was eyeing her fourth title at the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship, went down against China's Han Yue Han in the finals.

Image credit: Reuters

Lucknow: Former world number one Saina Nehwal failed to produce her best as she slumped to straight games defeat at the hands of China's Han Yue in the finals of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championship here on Sunday. 

Second seed Nehwal, who was eyeing her fourth title at the tournament, went down 18-21, 8-21 against Han, a 2017 world junior championship silver-medallist, in the summit showdown that lasted a little more than a half and hour. 

The 28-year-old shuttler had on Saturday showcased a rich vein of form as she rebounded strongly from a game down to claim a 12-21, 21-7 , 21-6 win over Indonesia's Ruselli Hartawan and book her place in the finals.Nehwal had earlier won the titles in 2009, 2014 and 2015 editions of the tournament. 

Meanwhile, the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy and men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also lost their respective final matches. 

Rankireddy and Shetty squandered a 18-14 lead in the second game before eventually suffering a 11-21, 20-22 defeat against second seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto of Indonesia in a 38-minute match of the men's doubles event. 

Ponnappa and Reddy, on the other hand, lost to the Malaysian team of Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean 15-21, 13-21 to settle for the silver medal in the women's doubles.