Hong Kong Super Series: Arvind and Saina lose in QFs, Chetan in Round 2

India’s challenge in the Hong Kong Super Series ended with Arvind Bhat and Saina Nehwal losing their quarter-final matches. Bhat lost to Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsana 26-28, 22-20, 14-21 while Nehwal went down to Hong Kong’s Chen Wang 25-27, 21-24, 15-21. Earlier, Chetan Anand had lost to third seed Jin Chen 11-21 12-21 in his second round match.

This was the last Super Series for 2008. The highest ranked 8 players/pairs (with a maximum of 2 entries per event per Member Association) in the Super Series Standing list qualify to compete in the World Super Series Masters finals in Malaysia (December 18-21, 2008). A total prize pool of USD 500,000 is on offer for the event. Unfortunately, none of the Indian players have come close to qualifying.

Hong Kong Super Series Recap
MS: Chetan Anand
defeated Petr Koukal 21-18 17-21 21-13 (Round 1)
lost to Jin Chen [3] 11-21 12-21 (Round 2)

MS: Arvind Bhat
defeated Joachim Persson [6] 21-17 21-17 (Round 1)
defeated Yan Kit Chan 21-14 21-19 (Round 2)
lost to Boonsak Ponsana 26-28 22-20 14-21 (Quarter-finals)

WS: Saina Nehwal
defeated Salakjit Ponsana 21-19 22-20 (Round 1)
defeated Youn Joo Bae 21-15 12-21 21-13 (Round 2)
lost to Chen Wang 25-27, 21-24, 15-21 (Quarter-finals)