Sports
Saina beats World Champ, retains Syed Modi crown
Top seed Saina Nehwal came out
with a stupendous performance to save two matchpoints and then defeat
reigning World Champion Carolina Marin of Spain to retain the women's
singles title at the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton
Championships here Sunday.
The World No.3 defending champion,
Saina outplayed the Spanish World No.7 to win the one-hour and 19-minute
marathon final 19-21, 25-23, 21-16 and clinch the Grand Prix Gold crown
at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.
With the victory, Saina
completed a hat-trick of wins against the second seeded Carolina in as
many meetings between them. Also, this is Saina's first title of 2015.
The
Hyderabadi, who defeated compatriot P.V. Sindhu to win the same title
here last year, did not start the match on a positive note as Carolina
raced away to a 5-2 lead.
The Indian came back strongly to win a
number of points in the next few minutes to take a vital 15-7 advantage.
Just when it was looking that Olympic bronze medallist Saina will seal
the game, Carolina showed her class to close the gap at 17-all.
The Spaniard carried the momentum with some deceptive shots which helped her to bag the first game 19-21.
The
second game was a neck-and-neck affair from the word go and from
15-all, both the shuttlers raised their games, not allowing the other
the difference of more than a point.
It was here when the
24-year-old Indian crucially saved two matchpoints. Carolina reverted by
saving the next two gamepoints but on the third it was Saina who got
the better of the Spaniard by winning her third gamepoint and pushed the
match into the decider.
The loss of the second game totally
shifted the momentum in favour of Saina, who seized the initiative and
dominated the third game to build a 15-7 lead. Though the reigning
European Champion tried fighting back, it was too much to ask from the
21-year-old as Saina closed out the encounter on her third matchpoint.
Top
seed Kidambi Srikanth and 2012 edition champion Parupalli Kashyap will
vie for the men's singles title later in the day. Meanwhile, Indonesian
top seeds Riky Widianto and Puspita Richi Dili will be challenged by
Indian duo Manu Attri and K. Maneesha in the mixed doubles final.