Badminton: Saina Nehwal Wins Gold to be World No.1
Having won 3 open Badminton Tournaments in Delhi, Malaysia and Indonesia in a row, this year the Hyderabad girl Saina (20) had risen to world no.2 position, relegating many a Chinese women star. She brought a last minute Gold medal to India, beating a Malaysian champion in a nail-biting finish, to warm the hearts of her Indian admirers and national coach, Pullela Gopichand in the Commonwealth Games.
Then she fell in China at the 16th Asian Games held in Guang Zhou at the quarter finals stage, darkening the moods of badminton enthusiasts and slipping to world no.4 rank, with 3 Chinese girls on top.
Of course, she had beaten the Malaysian in a revenge match, but could not go beyond last eight, with Taipeh and main land Chinese girls. Yet she did not lose her heart, when she did not get a medal in China.
She went to Hong Kong and the Chinese girls followed her there to play in HongKong Super Series 2010 tournament.
On Saturday (Dec 11), Saina Nehwal defeated a German player Juliana Schenk in a match that extended to 3 games (losing the second one), in 33 minutes. In the other court at HongKong, two Chinese players fought each other and Sixian Wong beat the best ranked Xin Wang, in two straight games / sets.
Saina Nehwal went on to win the Hong Kong open tussle in finals (her fourth Super series 2010 title) against Sixian Wang of China in 3 sets, by 15-21, 21-16 and 21-17 on last Sunday (12-12-10).
It was a pulsating and edge of the seat match running for 71 minutes. If only the Asiad had taken place after the HongKong title clash, Saina would have at least reached the final there.
But the failure in China made her a bolder player, with clenched teeth and determination to succeed. She had time to practice and worked hard, to overcome her weaknesses. She actually lost a game right in the beginning, but took the next two, to clinch the series on a golden heart warming note.
She was expected to be ranked world no.1 if she only won HongKong open series, Jai Ho! She has done it now.
Saina has reached home (in Hyderabad) today