Gopichand crashes out in quarters
The Indian challenge in badminton singles at the 14th Asian Games came to an end, with ace
shuttler Pulella Gopichand bowing out in the men's quarter-
finals at the Gangseo Gymnasium in Busan on Saturday.
Gopichand went down to South Korea's Seung Mo Shon in straight games 9-15, 11-15 much to the disappointment of the Indian contingent which was expecting at least a bronze medal from
him.
The former All-England champion, now ranked below 50 in world due to poor
form and injury, committed a number of unforced errors against
the South Korean, who enjoyed vociferous home crowd support.
The second seeded Shon took control of the
proceedings with better all-round play to wrap up the first
game without much difficulty though the Indian showed signs of
playing to his potential towards the end of it.
After conceding the first game, Gopichand made a valiant
effort to pull back but the Korean, despite making a few
mistakes under pressure, did not allow the Indian to gain the upper hand.
Gopichand seemed to have lost his concentration midway
through the second game and the local favourite was quick to
pounce on the chance and increase his lead substantially.
Shon admitted after the match that Gopichand had proved to be
a tough opponent.
"He is as tough as they come and today he showed glimpses of his top form. I was lucky to win in two
games."
The only other Indian in the fray, Abhinn Shyam Gupta
had made his exit in the first round of the singles
event, losing to world champion Hendrawan of Indonesia.
The Indonesian, however, lost to fifth ranked Xia Xuanze
of China 15-12, 10-15, 4-15 in the qaurter-finals today.
South Korea's Hyun Ii Lee also moved in the singles
semi-finals, pipping Malaysia's Choong Hann Wong 12-15,
15-9, 15-6 while Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat demolished
Malaysia's Muhammad Hashim 15-11, 15-5 in what turned out to be
a rather one-sided quarter-final encounter.