Gopichand crashes out in quarters

The Indian challenge in badminton singles at the 14th Asian Games came to an end, with ace shuttler Pulella Gopichand bowing out in the men's quarter- finals at the Gangseo Gymnasium in Busan on Saturday.

Gopichand went down to South Korea's Seung Mo Shon in straight games 9-15, 11-15 much to the disappointment of the Indian contingent which was expecting at least a bronze medal from him.

The former All-England champion, now ranked below 50 in world due to poor form and injury, committed a number of unforced errors against the South Korean, who enjoyed vociferous home crowd support.

The second seeded Shon took control of the proceedings with better all-round play to wrap up the first game without much difficulty though the Indian showed signs of playing to his potential towards the end of it.

After conceding the first game, Gopichand made a valiant effort to pull back but the Korean, despite making a few mistakes under pressure, did not allow the Indian to gain the upper hand.

Gopichand seemed to have lost his concentration midway through the second game and the local favourite was quick to pounce on the chance and increase his lead substantially.

Shon admitted after the match that Gopichand had proved to be a tough opponent.

"He is as tough as they come and today he showed glimpses of his top form. I was lucky to win in two games."

The only other Indian in the fray, Abhinn Shyam Gupta had made his exit in the first round of the singles event, losing to world champion Hendrawan of Indonesia.

The Indonesian, however, lost to fifth ranked Xia Xuanze of China 15-12, 10-15, 4-15 in the qaurter-finals today.

South Korea's Hyun Ii Lee also moved in the singles semi-finals, pipping Malaysia's Choong Hann Wong 12-15, 15-9, 15-6 while Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat demolished Malaysia's Muhammad Hashim 15-11, 15-5 in what turned out to be a rather one-sided quarter-final encounter.