Saina icing on India’s gold quest Champion says improved fitness and fighting spirit behind success
Saina beats Sindhu to clinch title; India finish third with 26 gold, 20 silver and as many bronze
GOLD COAST: “Keep calm. Don’t hurry. The chance will come.” A lone voice kept imploring PV Sindhu in Telugu as she took on Saina Nehwal in the women’s singles final on Sunday.
It was Sindhu’s mother, P Vijaya, who was egging her on from the stands as the two biggest stars of Indian badminton clashed at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre in women’s singles final.
At stake, besides gold, were a lot of things. For Saina, it meant the satisfaction of regaining the title, wresting back the mantle of being India’s best player and proving that she is not into the home stretch of her career.
For Sindhu, it was an opportunity to win the title after losing in the semi-finals in 2014 and improving the head-to-head (3-1) record against Saina.
In the end, Saina’s experience and better tactics saw her emerge victorious 21-18, 23-21. It was her second gold in singles, adding to the one she won in New Delhi in 2010.
Saina was aggressive from the start, her court coverage was superb and she dominated the rallies, not allowing Sindhu to play her game. The 28-year-old former world No 1 stayed patient in long rallies and waited for the right opportunity. She also read Sindhu’s deceptive strokes well and managed to fight back.
Sindhu had an easy passage to the final, beating defending champion Michelle Li in straight games on Saturday. She had suffered an injury before leaving for Australia and had not played a match in the team competition and that showed in her performance.
Saina established an early lead and maintained the advantage throughout the first game. The second was a lot closer and Sindhu had a handy lead before Saina came back to wrap the game, match and gold. It was a great encounter between two top players. A fitter Saina, she lost 5kg recently, played to her strengths.
A superb rally at 18-19 was the defining moment of the clash. Sindhu opened up an advantage by hitting the shuttle to both sides and varied the pace beautifully. But Saina came up with good retrievals and managed to put it in the back left corner, as both players gasped for breath after the longest rally of the game involving 64 strokes.
After that, Saina moved ahead. At one point it looked the match was heading towards a decider but Saina gave it her all to wrap it up.
SRIKANTH MISSES OUT
Recently-crowned world No 1 K Srikanth fought well against Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei before going down in three sets. Srikanth conceded a big lead in the decider as Chong Wei took control, winning 19-21, 21-14, 21-14.
In the first game, Srikanth came back from a 0-4 lead to tie at 4-4. It was neck-and-neck till 17-17 with Srikanth enjoying a slight lead. However, the Hyderabad shuttler played aggressively as he did against Chong Wei in the mixed team event and pulled away to win the first game.
Srikanth was playing catch-up in the second game too but by then Chong Wei, who was moving smoothly and controlling the rallies, had established his ascendency and pulled away from 9-9 to draw level.
India bagged another silver after the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost to Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge of England 13-21, 16-21. India, who won the mixed team gold for the first time, finished on top, winning two gold, three silver and bronze. England (2-2-2) finished second with Malaysia (2-1-2) third. GOLDCOAST:SAINA Nehwal on Sunday credited her success to improved fitness – she lost 5kg in the last few months – and her ability to bounce back from a shin injury.
Saina has been struggling to bag titles in recent months after a slump in ranking following her injury at the Rio Olympics. On Sunday, she put all that behind by claiming her second gold here and third overall in the Commonwealth Games as she defeated PV Sindhu in the women’s singles final.
After rejoining Pullela Gopichand she has embarked upon a new fitness regimen and that is paying dividends. She played in the team and individual competitions and won tough matches.
“I had a lot of shin and ankle injuries and Christopher Pedram, my physio with whom I started after the India Open, gave me very good rehab program which is helping my leg strength. Gopi sir (chief national coach) is managing my programme differently. They have decided to work on my agility and leg strength and therefore I was able to play 10-12 days here without major problems,” Saina said.
“I was not in a good shape, the rallies were going long, she (Sindhu) was picking up all the shots . I am happy that I could pull off the bigger rallies.”
Asked whether she has proved her critics wrong, Saina said: “In India if I lose, people start with, ‘Oh Saina has lost, Saina is getting old, she should retire’. I think there will be 100 things written about me but for her (Sindhu) it is still ok because she is still coming up,” she said.
I will put it next to my Olympic medal and my world No 1 ranking. It’s an emotional moment for me after the disappointing loss in Rio due to injury. On gold in Gold Coast