The England badminton squad can be left to rue three error-strewn games as they failed to make the mixed team final for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Throughout each of the three contests the England players looked lethargic and tired, allowing the Indians to take full control.
Though England were playing their second round of matches in the day the same could be said for the Indian squad who had played Canada in their quarter final earlier in the day.
The first match up of the day was in the mixed doubles and saw Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork come up against Jwala Gutta and Diju Valiya Veetil and got off to a nervy start, India taking the first point and retaining the lead throughout the first game despite Robertson and Wallwork getting within a point multiple times. It was the simple mistakes that cost the English pair as a string of unforced errors and misguided shots left them 11-7 down at the interval. Despite Roberston looking dangerous with the rare smashes he was able to pull off the Indians took the first game 21-17.
Game 2 started close before Diju and Gutta opened up a two point gap when they reached seven and by the time the interval arrived their lead had been extended to three. It was after the break, however, that Gutta and her partner took control, taking the first two points after the return to make it 13-8 and from there they never looked back, and neither did the raucous crowd in the Siri Forst Sports Complex.
There were surprises for a number of reasons in the second match, initially in that world number 18 Chetan Anand didn't come out to face Rajiv Ouseph, that honour fell to Kashyap Parupalli. The pair had once before faced off, with Ouseph coming out 21-11 21-12 victor but this match was to be oh so different. The little man from Mumbai moved into a 4-1 lead before five straight points put Ouseph on the front foot, though it was the home player that was in front at the break as India were in every game of the team contest. A slip from Hounslow based Ouseph gave Kashyap a five point advantage at 15-10 and the Indian never looked back, gaining confidence and taking the first game 21-13.
The second game was tighter, the Englishman twice taking five straight points to level the scores but in the end Ouseph's reluctance to smash and lazy gameplay left him staring down the barrel of three match points, a chance that Kashyap took at his first bite.
The result of what turned out to be the final match came as no surprise, world number three Saina Nehwal coming up against Elizabeth Cann, ranked 32 places lower than her Indian counterpart and in poor form, losing rubbers against both Canada and in the same days quarter final tie against Scotland. Despite this, though, Cann kept close against an opponent who showed occasional touches of class, even daring to take the lead at both 14-13 and 17-16 before an air shot on the next point threw her off of her game, Nehwal taking five of the next six points.
The second game saw Cann tire and Nehwal, the 2009 & 2010 Indonesian open winner, ran out 21-11 winner to send India through to the final where they will face a Malaysian team who overcame Singapore 3-1 while England drop into the bronze medal play off where they will face the loser of the other semi final.
It was a highly dissapointing tie for the English, whose players can now look forward to the singles and doubles events of next week once they have completed their bronze medal match up with Singapore. None more so will be upset than Anthony Clark and Gabby White, who weren't required to play in the final two doubles matches.
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