India's world No 3 shuttler Saina Nehwal blamed the pressure she placed on herself after flopping out of the Asian Games at the quarterfinal stage.

Nehwal, who clinched Commonwealth Games gold in New Delhi last month and is the only Indian player to have captured a Super Series trophy, crashed out 8-21, 21-8, 19-21 to Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin on Thursday.

"It just wasn't my day. Maybe my expectations were too high because I really wanted to win this," said the 20-year-old from Hyderabad. "I felt under pressure."

With millions watching at home in India, Nehwal said she never really recovered from a bad start.

"I had a slow start, I was not defending very well and was not moving well on court. She was hitting very hard, while I could not take control and made a lot of errors," said Nehwal, adding that Yip had "improved a lot".

China Daily

(China Daily 11/20/2010)