SAINA WINS 3 BADMINTON TITLES IN THREE WEEKS
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IANS
The Pioneer
Sunday, June 27, 2010 a
Jakarta - India's Saina Nehwal made her country proud on Sunday as
she won the Indonesian Open Super Series for her third straight
badminton title in three weeks, including the two successive Super
Series titles. The World No.3 defeated a fighting Sayaka Sato of
Japan 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in the final here Sunday, a win that is
expected to lift her to World No. 2 rankings this week.
Top seeded Saina, who hails from Hyderabad where her parents watched
the match on television, was a strong favourite to defend her title
after winning the Indian Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super
Series in the last two weeks which saw her climb two places in the
rankings this week, marching ahead of the three top Chinese players.
The 20-year-old Indian, with many records to her name, is expected to
go up one more place in the world rankings after her stupendous run.
The No.1 badminton player in the world is Wang Yihan of China.
Though the top Chinese players were not playing in the tournament, it
is still a big achievement for Saina considering she now has three
Super Series titles.
It began here one year ago when she first won the Indonesian Open and
Sunday she used all her experience to get past giant-killer Sato, who
gave a strong fight to the Indian, in front of a packed crowd that
had a sprinkling of Indians waving the Indian tricolour.
Sato, ranked 26 in the world, had defeated two seeded players,
including third seed Zhou Mi of Hong Kong.
The resilient Japanese, who lost to Saina in the final of the World
Junior Badminton championship in Pune in 2008, bounced back from a
game down with some crisp drop shots.
Saina, coached by former All England Champion Pullela Gopichand, made
a confident start and quickly opened up a 8-4 lead, but Sato caught
her up at 11-11 exhibiting brilliant backhand shots and also taking
advantage of the Saina's errors. It was a neck-and-neck battle from
there on with both players competing fiercely for every point.
Sato took the lead at 17-16, but Saina surged ahead pocketing three
points before finishing off the game.
The left-handed Sato dictated the course of play in the second game
and Saina was clearly under pressure. The Japanese with a supple
wrist set up the points beautifully even as Saina tried hard to
comeback. Sato took a 6-2 lead and consolidated on it to put it
beyond the Indian, who preserved her energy for the decider.
Saina came back strongly in the second game and it was her net-play
that got the better of the Japanese, who was struggling to read
Saina's game.
Once Saina went up 8-5, Sato went down with a string of errors.
Saina served for the match as a hush descended on the stadium. But
soon it exploded into cheers and applause as Saina screamed after
Sato shut out her chances with a wild shot.
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Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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