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Saina loses in Indonesia Masters final (Second Lead)
Jakarta, Jan 28 (IANS) Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was outplayed by Chinese Taipei’s top seeded Tai Tzu Ying in the final of the $350,000 Indonesia Masters World Tour Super 500 here on Sunday.
World No.1 Tai took only 27 minutes to win 21-9, 21-13 as she unleashed an array of strokes to floor the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist.
Saina, thus registered her seventh straight defeat against the world no.1 — who leads the head-to-head battle 9-5 against the Indian.
In the first game, Ying maintained the lead from the onset. She clinched five consecutive points in comparison to Saina’s 2 which helped her close the game with ease.
The World No.12 looked nowhere in the match, even in the second game where she lost in similar fashion against Ying — who took an early 4-0 lead and from there, she did not look back to clinch the title with ease.
“Played final after one year of gap at the #IndonesiaMastersSuper500 .. Would like to thank (Pullela) Gopi (chand) Sir and the team for the support .. Need to work even harder,” Saina wrote on Twitter.
“Happy to b on the podium but have to learn from this match and b ready for the next tournament…Thank u all for the wishes and support.”
The men’s singles title went to 21-year-old Indonesian rising star Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who crushed Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai 21-13, 21-12 in 33 minutes.
In the men’s doubles final, world No.1 pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo defeated Chinese second seeds Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen11 21, 21-10, 21-16.
Japanese women’s doubles second seeds Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi lived up to their reputation as they got the better of Indonesian eight seeds Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 21-17, 21-12.
The mixed doubles title went to Chinese sixth seeds Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, who took only 33 minutes to upset Indonesian top seeds Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir with a 21-14, 21-11 triumph.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.