Nehwal goes down to rising Thai star

May 23, 2011 |

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Saina Nehwal

World number four Saina Nehwal was convincingly beaten by top Thai prospect Ratchanok Inthanon at the Sudirman Cup on Monday as India's charge faltered once more.

Nehwal, who is a huge star back home, got off to a rotten start and was trailing 8-1 and then 12-3, before losing the first game by a humbling 21-14 to her 16-year-old opponent.

The 21-year-old Nehwal was quicker out of the blocks in the second game, but she squandered an early lead and allowed the world-ranked 18 Ratchanok back in, the rising Thai star taking the game -- and with it the tie -- 22-20.

"Yesterday's game was quite tough and that made me really slow today," said Nehwal, who struggled to see off Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying on Sunday, eventually coming through an unconvincing 21-10, 12-21, 21-17.

"I was still confident I could pull through but I made too many errors today," added Nehwal.

The Indian said Ratchanok could eventually be a top player.

"She can become really good. She's troubling a lot of the Chinese players and doing really well against most of them. She's going to be good in the future."

India lost their opening match on Sunday 3-2 to Taiwan.

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