C’WEALTH GAMES QF – India stutter, Scotland out

Regulation victories were provided by Singapore and England who required only 3 games to win their respective ties, both in only two games. Both India and Malaysia had stumbles on their way to the semifinals.

By Michael Burke, Badzine Correspondent, live from Glasgow.  Photos: Yohan Nonotte for Badmintonphoto (live).

India’s P.V. Sindhu had big shoes to fill after compatriot Nehwal’s withdrawal due to injury, and nerves played a part as an impressive Michelle Li (pictured right) took her first victory against her first seeded opponent.

After a slow first game, Li offered a better contest in the second, taking it narrowly 22-20. With the momentum, she took the match to keep the Indians on court one game longer.

Speaking about her performance, “I was just more shocked how well I played. I went in without a lot of pressure. I’ve played her a couple of times and this is the first time I’ve won, she’s probably under a lot of pressure.”

The Canadian has had a series of impressive performances so far in Glasgow to top off a successful year to boot, on whether bigger things were to come from her, “Definitely. After the Commonwealth Games is the World Championships and if I can carry some of this momentum over to that then that would just be the best.”

The Canadians caused yet further anxious moments as the Mens’ doubles pushed out to a deciding set, but Dewalkar and Chopra (pictured right) looked fresher as the regrouped in the third.

Malaysia also stuttered on their way to the final, as Blair and Bankier (pictured left) controlled much of the opening encounter of the contest. The first game went the Malaysians way in extra points, but a wayward performance in the next two gave the Scottish crowd some good early hope.

Chong Wei Feng showed his class to win the Mens’ singles and get Malaysia’s first point, afterwards he said, “It was not easy because they lead us, and there was a lot of pressure on me to take a point.”

Tee Jing Yi (pictured right) put the favourites in the lead as Gilmour’s game fell apart in front of a quietened Scottish crowd.

She spoke of the game saying, “Just now I played well, my opponent made a lot of unforced mistakes. I played slow and cool, more so than before. I had nothing to lose I just play my game and enjoy.”

The match, targeted by the Scottish as a hopeful win, proved decisive as the Mens’ doubles also could not get past the experienced Goh and Tan.

The first seeds progressed, but not without a lot of pressure, “We expected to win but also it was a very tough match, Scotland surprised us.”

Singapore and England conversely got early nights requiring only six games each to win their matches. Australia seemed to wear their efforts of last night against a strong Singapore capitulating without really threatening.

Similarly Sri Lanka lost their second match of the day, not making their unexpected qualification count, as England marched on to face India in the second session on Sunday.

The full results for the quarterfinals can be found here.