Saina falters in leap to final
Glasgow, Aug. 26: Saina Nehwal on Saturday settled for the bronze medal as her impressive run at the World Championships came to an end with a loss against Rio Olympics bronze medallist Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s semi-finals here.
Saina, who took a silver medal two years ago at Jakarta, bowed to Okuhara’s never-say-die attitude, outmanoeuvred in an energy-sapping clash at the Emirates Arena.
After battling for an hour and 14 minutes, it was the world no. 12 Japanese who managed to eke out a 12-21, 21-17, 21-10 win to become her country ‘s first shuttler to reach the finals of the Worlds.
Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu is the only remaining hope for India at the event. She will take on ninth seed Chinese Chen Yufei in another semi-final.
Saina advanced to the semi-finals beating Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour on Friday.
The 27-year-old Indian dug deep to beat world no. 31 Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 2115 in a match that lasted an hour and 14 minutes.
On Saturday, It turned out to be a battle of attrition between Saina and Okuhara. The two players have met seven times so far in international badminton with Saina having an upper hand in six of those battles.
SAINA REGRETS RIO TRIP
“I should not have gone to the Rio Olympics”, said Saina after her win in the quarters, almost a year after the champion shuttler’s early exit proved to be one of the biggest upsets for the Indian contingent at the Games.
The 27-year-old’s second round defeat to unheralded Ukrainian Marija Ulitina was the lowest point for India in Rio, having entered the Games as the previous edition’s bronze medallist and a winner of multiple international tournaments.
“Only I know what I went through. I shouldn’t have gone to Rio, I didn’t know I had a major injury. The belief of my parents and coach helped me get back. I still have tendonitis in the (right) knee,” Saina said.
Her second world championship semi-final appearance is different because she had struggled on court after returning from a career-threatening knee injury and a surgery that hampered her at the Olympics last year.
“I was expecting a tough fight, but I was surprised she was playing so quick,” said Saina of Gilmour.
“There were a lot of difficult rallies. She was pepped up and motivated, she put up a great show. I didn’t expect she would last so long in the third game.”