Saina Nehwal's woes refuse to end

Saina Nehwal has never won an individual medal at the Asian Games. Her agonising wait for silverware continued after she lost China's Wang Yihan of China in the women's singles quarterfinals here on Friday.

If nothing, Nehwal is unlikely to renew ties with long-time coach and mentor Pullela Gopichand, with whom she had split "mutually" ahead of these Games. Gopichand was nowhere to be seen during Nehwal's crucial match. But then, he may have been busy with K Srikanth. Srikanth eventually lost to South Korea's Son Wanho 21-19 11-21 18-21 to end the Indian shuttlers' campaign in Incheon.

Vimal Kumar, Nehwal's new coach, witnessed his ward take the first game before going down tamely in the next two. Nehwal's game plan, that of attacking from the word go, backfired because she barely had energy for the next two games.

In the opener, it was Yihan who led 11-8 at the break. But Nehwal fought back to take the game 21-18.

Thereon, it was Yihan all the way as Nehwal looked tired. Her 'newfound speed', for which she went to Kumar, was seldom on display. A brief chat with Kumar failed to change much as she went down from 7-13 to lose the game 9-21.

The third game was again one-way traffic. All a tired Nehwal did was exchange glances with Kumar. "I was really tired in the last two games as I played too fast in the first," Nehwal said, adding: "But, I'm so happy that I managed to get one game off Yihan. It was always a one-sided affair, except once when I had beaten her in straight games. My speed and court movements have really improved as compared to the World Cup."

Clearly, Nehwal was hinting at continuing with Kumar as coach. Insiders also believe that this would be beneficial to both parties as Gopichand hardly has time for Nehwal. His priority is PV Sindhu now. No wonder Nehwal was feeling neglected.

That apart, Gopichand is the secretary of the newly-formed Telangana Badminton Association. He is a national selector, chief national coach and owner of P Gopichand Academy, which is the country's premier badminton nursery.

Nehwal won the Australian Superseries title in June, whereas Sindhu grabbed the bronze medal at the World Championships last month. This rivalry is becoming intense now. With Sindhu losing to Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia 22-20 16-21 20-22 on Thursday night, the remainder of the season will provide clues to the arrangements for the next year.

"I need time to sit and think. But I can see a clear-cut difference in my movement and should give more time to train the same way," Nehwal said.

Wei too hot for Kashyap
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap failed to pass the Asiad test as he lost to World No.1 Lee Chong Wei 12-21 11-21 in the pre-quarterfinals. K Srikanth also lost out in the pre-quarterfinals after losing a hard-fought battle against Wanho Son of South Korea 21-19 11-21 18-21 in an hour and seven minutes.