INDIA’S world number three shuttler Saina Nehwal blamed the pressure she placed on herself after flopping out of the Asian Games at the quarter-final stage.
Nehwal, who clinched Commonwealth Games gold in New Delhi last month and is the only Indian player to have captured a Super Series trophy, crashed 8-21, 21-8, 19-21 to Hong Kong’s Yip Pui Yin yesterday.
“It just wasn’t my day, maybe my expectations were too high because I really wanted to win this,” said from the 20-year-old from Hyderabad.
“I felt under pressure.”
With millions watching at home in India, Nehwal said she never really recovered from a bad start.
“I had a slow start, I was not defending very well and was not moving well on court. She was hitting very hard, while I could not take control and made a lot of errors,” said Nehwal, adding Yip had “improved a lot”.
Yip faces China’s Wang Shixian today.
