QUEEN B SAINA SMASHES HER WAY TO BADMINTON TOP
History was written at the Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries badminton here on Saturday when Saina Nehwal was assured of the World No.1 rankings even before she took to the Siri Fort courts.
As soon as Ratchanok Intanon stunned reigning world champion Carolina Marin in the first women’s singles semifinals, Saina’s numero uno status was assured. When the new BWF rankings list are out next week, the 25-year-old Hyderabadi will become first Indian woman shuttler to achieve the feat. Legendary Prakash Padukone had attained the status, though unoffi- cially, following his title triumphs at the Danish Open, Swedish Open and All England Championships in 1980.
Later, Saina celebrated her new status with a straight-game demolition of Japanese Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11, before World No.4 K. Srikanth joined her cruising into the final of the Super Series event.
“It is the first time for me so I am excited. I am focussed to do well in the final,” said Saina.
Fresh from his Swiss Open triumph earlier this month, Srikanth made his second successive finals defeating Chinese qualifier Xue Song 21-16 21-13. He will next take on Viktor Axelsen in the summit clash which will be a rematch of the Swiss Open final. Axelsen had beaten Tommy Sugiarto 22-24, 17-11, after the eighth seeded Indonesian retired hurt midway in the second game. With a boisterous crowd backing her, Saina dominated throughout the match and pushed the Japanese to commit mistakes.
CHAMPIONS’ MATCH The highlight of the semifinals was the match between the former and reigning world champions — Ratchanok and Marin. And both the players played their heart out in a high-octane 94-minute match before Ratchanok won 21-19, 21-23, 22-20.
In the decider that could go either way, Marin saved two match points but a few unforced errors cost her dear. “It was a very close and difficult match. She has many variations in her strokes. I also committed a lot of errors,” said Marin.
Ratchanok added: “I want to win the tournament as it will give me a lot of confidence.”
The race for the number one status between Saina and Spaniard Marin had started even before the start of tournament here. Even if Saina loses in the final, she will have 77,141 points and will be ahead of Chinese Li Xuerui (71,414) who will lose 7800 points for being out of action with an injury. Marin will take the No.2 spot with 73,618 points to her.