\SLokmat NewsNetwork
Nagpur, Oct 28
City shuttler Malvika Bansod went down fighting in the SaarLorLux Open at Saarbrucken Saarland in Germany on Wednesday.
According to reports reaching here in the women''s singles first round, Malvika failed to clear the opening hurdle against the higher ranked opponent. Kristin Kuuba of Estonia edged past Malvika 21-12, 21-19 in 34 minutes.
Kristin, world No. 59, dominated the first game as Malvika could not adjust to the new venue. The 23-year-old Kristin captured five consecutive points to establish a strong lead.
After losing first game, Malvika put up a much better performance and stretched her rival. Malvika and Kristen were involved in a grim battle for each point in the second game. The city teenager pocketed five successive points to take a slight lead against tall Estonian.
The way Malvika, ranked 162 in the world, was playing in the second game it looked like she will stretch the match into the third game. But the tall and lanky Kristin used her experience of playing in the European circuit to seal the deal in her favour. Kristin clinched the match on the first game point when the score was 20-19 to shatter the hopes of Malvika.
Kristin will now take on sixth seed Yvonne Li of Germany in the second round. The German, who originally hails from Malaysia, has a 3-0 head to head record against Kristin.