 Hyderabad: Indians came crashing down in Tokyo on Thursday as reality hit them hard in the second round of the Japan Open Super Series.
Barring Saina Nehwal, all the Indians were knocked out of the tournament, including the women's doubles team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa who squandered five match points.
The Indian girls embraced defeat from the door step of victory against Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim of Korea, losing 9-21, 21-18, 22-24.
But the Indians failed to capitalise and allowed the Koreans to save four match points here and one more at 21-20 and win the game at 24-22.
As on most occasions in the past Saina was the saving grace for the Indian camp. The fourth seed looked comfortable in her 21-17, 21-16 victory against Mingtian Fu of Singapore. Saina will face another Singporean Juan Gu in the quarters on Friday.
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