IndiaPost.com - Sridhar's Bull Run comes to an end at world championships

KUALA LUMPUR: Anup Sridhar's dream run in the World Badminton Championships came to a screeching halt as he went down to top seed and defending champion Lin Dan after giving a scare to the Chinese in the quarterfinals here today. Sridhar played courageously against his formidable opponent but ultimately lost 20-22, 9-21 in 38 minutes.

The scoreline is not an indicator of how Sridhar, who knocked off Olympic Champion Taufiq Hidayat and former All England Champion Muhd Hafiz B Hashim in two days, ran close to world No.1 Lin. In the first game, the Indian was up 20-19 with just one point away from taking a crucial 1-0 advantage.

But luck was not in Sridhar's favor as Lin saved the game point and closed the game at 22-20. Lin was in absolute command in the second game and did not concede an inch to tame the giant killer Indian without much trouble.

Sridhar would be more than happy with what he achieved in the tournament and his world ranking of 40 is sure to get a major boost from his quarterfinal appearance here. Having got a taste of Sridhar's play, Lin decided to beat him at his own game and the world No.1 adapted well to notch up eight net winners to Sridhar's three in the next game.

The Bangalore boy played with a big heart in the first game. After being down 2-6, Sridhar slowly started closing in the gap to hold Lin at 10-10 and got the advantage at 12-11. From there on, it was a neck-and-neck thriller with both scoring one point at a time. Sridhar stood on the verge of a game point at 20-19 but could not convert it.

Lin was in no mood to give his fierce opponent another chance and closed it at 22-20. The Chinese raced to a 7-1 lead in the second game and it was too wide a gap for Sridhar to catch up Lin. Earlier, Anup Sridhar's scalped world No. 16 Muhd Hafiz B Hashim of Malaysia.

The Indian showed nerves of steel to come out trumps from a neck-and-neck thriller 21-19 18-21 21-15 and knock off the 2003 All England Champion, who was seeded 13th here.

However, in the women's singles Saina Nehwal bowed out after losing to world No. 4 Pi Hongyan of France in the third round. Saina put up a gallant show against the top class opponent before going down 13-21 17-21.