INDIA GPG 2012 – Saina withdraws on match point, Taufik out

It was a bad day for the organizers of the Shaheed Dr. K.L. Garg – Syed Modi International India GPG 2012 as the top two seeds and the real names carrying the event are out on day one of the main draw in Lucknow.  It was unlucky indeed for Taufik Hidayat, who fell to an unknown Indian shuttler, Pratul Joshi, in straight games 17-21, 12-21 who, himself was edged out by Indonesia’s Siwanto in the second round played the same day… That leaves 6 of the promising young Indian shuttlers left for the title including second seed Kashyap on top of the list.

In the women’s singles, all the attention was on Saina Nehwal, but the top seed withdrew as she was holding match point. The 22-year-old was on match-point (21-17, 20-18) against Russian Ksenia Polikarpova when  she told the referee she could not continue due to knee problems.  That frustrated the local organizers as well as Badminton India officials.

Her coach Pullela Gopichand took her defense in the local media: “She has had a long season and was tired. I would have loved her to continue but her leg was bothering her,” said Gopichand to NDTV. PV Sindhu is now India’s best chance for gold in the event.

The mixed doubles top seeds, Rijal / Susanto, also withdrew while crowd favourite Ashwini Ponnappa withdrew from women’s doubles and lost in the first round in mixed.  The biggest names are still going, however, as French Open champions Ko Sung Hyun / Lee Yong Dae advanced to the second round, as did women’s top seeds Shinta Mulia Sari / Yao Lei.

All results here