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World Championships: Saina Nehwal loses final, settles for historic silver medal

Jakarta (Indonesia), Aug 16: It was heartbreak for India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and millions of her fans as she lost the BWF World Badminton Championships final 16-21, 19-21 to Carolina Marin of Spain here on Sunday (August 16).

Committed too many errors: Saina

Despite stumbling at the final hurdle, 25-year-old Saina created history by giving India its first ever silver medal in World Championships. The previous 4 were all bronze.

Saina Nehwal poses with her silver medal

It was 2nd consecutive time this year that the world number 1 Spaniard had denied the Indian a victory in the final. The duo had met in March when Saina was beaten by Carolina 21-16, 14-21, 7-21 at the All England Open final. (Kumble, Jwala congratulate Saina)

After a good opening to the final at Istora - Gelora Bung Karno arena, where Saina raced to a 7-5 lead, the left-handed opponent bounced back to win 4 successive points to lead 11-7 at the mini-break. The defending champion got stronger and wrapped up the game 21-16 in 24 minutes though India's world number 2 saved 3 game points.

Again the 2nd game, Saina held the advantage with a similar lead of 7-5 only to squander it. The Hyderabad girl, who won bronze at 2012 London Olympics was ahead 12-7 but Marin rallied to a 13-12 score.

Though Saina kept fighting hard to get back to 17-15 advantage, the Spaniard was in no mood to give up as she won the title with 21-19 scoreline in the 2nd game. The match lasted 59 minutes.

"I never thought I'd reach the final," Saina had said yesterday (August 15).

"I'm so happy to get a medal at the World Championships because I've never made it past the quarter-finals in previous editions," Saina was quoted as saying by the tournament's website after her semi-final win against Lindaweni Fanetri.

"I always had difficult draws and would run into a Chinese in the quarter-final. There was a mental block. This time too I had to play Wang Yihan, it was almost like a final. I love playing in Indonesia," she added.

"I just want to do well. With Carolina Marin in the final, it will be tricky. She has some fast-paced strokes. It will be a different match compared to the All England final since the conditions are different," Saina had said.

Carolina Marin bites her gold medal

India's medals at World Championships - 5

1983 - Prakash Padukone (Men's Singles) - Bronze

2011 - Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (Women's Doubles) - Bronze

2013 and 2014 - PV Sindhu (Women's Singles) - Bronze

2015 - Saina Nehwal (Women's Singles) - Silver


Saina's road to the silver medal

1st Round - Bye

2nd Round - Beat Cheung Ngan Yi (Hong Kong) 21-13, 21-19 (Won in 33 minutes)

Round of 16 - Beat Sayaka Takahashi (Japan) 21-18, 21-14 (47 minutes)

Quarter-final - Beat Wang Yihan (China) 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 (1 hour and 12 minutes)

Semi-final - Beat Lindaweni Fanetri (Indonesia) 21-17, 21-17 (55 minutes)

Final - Lost to Carolina Marin (Spain) 16-21, 19-21 (59 minutes)

OneIndia News

Story first published: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 10:12 [IST]
Other articles published on Aug 8, 2017