At the All England Open badminton championships start Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal had to face a 15-21, 19-21 defeat against World number one Tai Tzu Ying of Taiwan in the quarter-finals. Saina was nowhere near to her best as she lost the contest in just 37 minutes. The Indian fought hard but all in vain. Saina’s husband Parupalli Kashyap, who is also badminton player, was present at the venue and during the break in the first game, he was heard giving an earful to his wife.

Saina was trailing 3-11 and Kashyap suggested his wife to be disciplined. “If you want to win the match, understand that you have to be disciplined. You're playing some stupid shots,” Kashyap was quoted as saying by India Today. Saina Nehwal Crashes Out in Quarters of All England Championship 2019; Loses to World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying.

Kashyap’s reprimand did work for Saina somewhat as he managed to reduced the gap to 12-14 after the break. However, Tai Tzu never allowed her to overtake and won the opening game 21-15.

Kashyap did not stop and during the interval, he once again was trying to lift Saina’s game. “Control karke maar, last me maar rahi thi. Drop ko baar baar lift karke court open chod rahi thi [Control the shuttle and go for the shots, like you did in the end. You were lifting the drop shots again and again and leaving your court open]," Kashyap said to Saina.

"She wants to keep the points short, you can't play into her hands. Be disciplined, she will play strokes and open the court for you and then you can go for your shots. You have to play her that way otherwise it's difficult,” he added. PV Sindhu Knocked out of All England Championship 2019; Loses to Korea's Sung Ji Hyun.

Saina took an 8-3 lead in the second game as she worked hard to corner the Taiwanese around the court. However, Tai Tzu turned up with her delectable skills to reduce the gap before Saina took an 11-8 lead into the break. Once Tai Tzu took a 14-13 lead, there was no looking back.

The defeat was Saina’s 13th consecutive against Tai Tzu. The Taiwanese will now take on Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals as she eyes a hat-trick of All England titles.

(Inputs IANS)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2019 01:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).