Spain’s Marin is first woman to win the world singles title three times
SPAIN’s Carolina Marin declared she’s back to her best as soon as she destroyed India’s P.V. Sindhu to become the first women’s singles shuttler to win the world title three times.
In a rematch of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics final, the 24-year-old world No. 8 outplayed Sindhu 21-19, 21-10 in 45 minutes in Nanjing yesterday to deny the latter’s dream of becoming the first Indian world badminton champion.
It was Sindhu’s second final defeat in as many years having lost to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in Glasgow last year.
World No. 3 Sindhu got the match off to a ferocious start to build a 15-11 lead.
But a couple of mistakes paved the way for Marin to come back as she took five straight points to charge ahead to seal the opening game.
Marin never looked like losing from that moment on as she led from the start to the end in the second game and allowing her rival to steal only 10 points.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” said an emotional Marin, who shed tears of joy when the Spain’s anthem was played during the prize giving ceremony.
“It’s really special to win the World Championships for a third time.
“I’ve always believed that I could be back to be the player I was before – the one who won many titles a couple of years ago.
“I feel like I’m coming back. I feel very strong and I feel very confident with myself. Carolina Marin is back.”
Marin has been struggling to impress since winning the Olympics. She also had to deal with a nagging thigh injury after the Rio Games.
In the last 22 months, she won just one title, the Japan Open last September and lost her world No. 1 status.
As for Sindhu, settling for her second straight silver medal was surely a bitter pill to swallow.
“It’s frustrating and I was a bit sad because it was just like last time, I expected it to be a good one. I’m happy that I made it all the way to the final again, but it just wasn’t my day,” said Sindhu.
“Winning and losing is part of life.”