Saina Nehwal, only Indian to reach quarter-finals of the current Korea Open, losses her match to Japanese badminton star Nozomi Okuhara in three games match (21-15, 15-21, 20-22).
This the third major badminton event in the row where India could not afford representation in the semifinals.
The Hyderabad based shuttler won a gold medal at the Gold coast Commonwealth Games but settled with a bronze in the Asian Games held at Indonesia.
Saina had a tough ride this year with managing average performance in the BWF events.
The quarterfinal match set off low with no major rallies.
She lost two consecutive points giving the Japanese upper edge.
But in the second half of the first game, Saina reduced her errors and won the set with five points.
In the second set, Nozomi played much more aggressively. But Saina managed to keep with the Japanese till the mid-point break.
The second half of this game was won by a Japanese with an identical score of 21-15
The third set was quite close with both the players keeping each other on toes.
Saina had the first break in the game with a score of 16-10 but later Japanese fought back and won the match with six consecutive points.
