Indonesia’s two mixed doubles pairs booked quarterfinals amid the downfall of the men’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s singles shuttlers at the Badminton Asia Championship in India on Thursday.

First seed men’s singles Taufik Hidayat failed to make it through the quarterfinals after he surrendered 20-22, 21-16 to Taiwanese Hsuan Yi Hsueh on Thursday.  

Despite leading until the 13th point in the first set, Taufik gave up his first set and let Hsuan lead the entire second set. On Friday’s quarterfinals, Hsuan will duel against Japanese Kenichi Tago, the runner-up of the recent All England Super Series championship.

“[Hsuan] played better and my physical [stamina] dropped,” Taufik told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.  He advanced with ease from the earlier rounds where he crushed Indra Mahata of Nepal 21-6, 21-9, and Ha Anh Lee of Vietnam by 21-10, 21-16.  

New Delhi: Saina Nehwal cruised into the semi-finals of women’s singles with a facile victory over Malaysian Mew Choo Wong and is now the lone Indian survivor in the Badminton Asia Championships
here Friday.

Saina, world No. 6, was in sublime touch as she dispatched Mew Choo Wong 21-5, 21-13 in just 28 minutes that brought much needed relief in the Indian camp after three disappointing defeats of its players early in the day at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

Before Saina’s win, top-seeded mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Valiyaveetil Diju ran out of steam in the third game, losing eight points at a stretch, and went down to Chinese pair of Zihan Qiu and Qing Tian 21-15, 11-21, 14-21 in a 47-minute thriller at the same court.