Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal (5 page)

According to her former coach Pullela Gopichand, her triumph is the best ever performance by any Indian woman and at par with All England Championship titles won by Prakash Padukone. In the thrilling final, Saina (who was world number eight rank) at that time came from behind to outsmart world number three Wang. Saina took sometime to get into the groove as she struggled to gauge the game plan of Wang in the first game. Wang opened a 4-9 lead and rode on her smashes and better net play to pocket the first game as Saina was left to do the catch up act.

But the Indian ace rallied her way back in the second game. Saina levelled the score at 5-5 and then moved together with her Chinese rival till 17-17 before surging ahead to pocket the second game 21-18. In the decider, Saina was in her attacking best besides displaying better nerves in crucial moments.

After moving neck and neck till 7-7, Saina went out of control by engaging her rival in soft dribble and net play to widen the gap at 15-9 before reeling off six straight points to seal her place in history.

In an interview, Saina said, “It was a really, really tough and I love the crowd here. It’s really nice here. Whenever I enter the court, I feel like a champion here.”

All England Championship

Saina Nehwal holds her
gold medal after defeating
China’s Lin Wang

The 2010 All-England Super Series was a badminton tournament held in Birmingham, England, Great Britain from March 9, 2010 to March 14, 2010. It was the third competition in the BWF 2010 Super Series. It was held in the National Indoor Arena.

Saina ranked world No.3 during the tournament. She won a thrilling and tight encounter against former World No.1 Shixian Wang at the National Indoor Arena and reached the women’s singles semi-finals.

Saina beat the sixth seed 23-21, 19-21, 21-16 in a marathon Super Series Premier match which lasted one hour and 14 minutes. This was the fourth time Saina beat Shixian in her five career meetings. In the process, Saina also ensured the exit of all Chinese women from singles competition. Saina dictated proceedings from the start as her Chinese opponent was uncomfortable against her. This was quite obvious after her three consecutive wins in last three encounters.

Saina playing in All England Super Series, Great Britain - 2010

This tournament was a big deal for her. Since the tournament is categorized under the ‘oldest’ ones in history of badminton, Saina’s participation was quite significant. The tournament is held each year for over a century now. It is a dream of every player to win this tournament. In India, there have been only two All England champions; Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand. Saina became the first Indian woman to carve a niche in the tournament. It was definitely a big achievement for her.

Commonwealth Games, 2010

The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3rd to 14th October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games to date. It was also the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, eclipsing the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event. It was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time it was held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998.

The media and the entire sports world termed Saina as India’s saviour after Commonwealth Games. Since, her victory propelled India to the prestigious number 2 position in the medals score, Saina was honoured and revered for her achievements. She also became a household name in most of the Commonwealth countries where badminton was a popular and highly respected game.

Saina during the
Commonwealth Games,
New Delhi, 2010

Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to enter the finals of the Commonwealth Games badminton event. History was made at the Siri Fort Complex in front of home crowd, when she easily defeated Susan Egelstaff of Scotland in straight sets 21-10 and 21-17.

The spectators’ cheered for her as she stepped onto the court which was the last game of the day. Because of her unforced errors, Saina lost the initial points and the crowd also fell silent. However, the match transformed into an entirely different level as she recomposed herself and took to the winning stride.

She swiftly snatched the first set in just 12 minutes from Egelstaff. However, the next game saw Susan pressing force. She started advancing which was powered by some aberrant faults committed by Saina at the net.

Fear spellbound the home crowd when Susan took a 17-16 lead from Saina. However, with maximum levels of diligence she advanced with a five pointer to enter the finals.

With this game, top seed Saina Nehwal became the first women Indian shuttler to win a gold medal in a singles event at the Commonwealth Games. This wasn’t easy for the ace shuttler though. She had to go through a grueling three-game victory over Mew Choo Wong from Malaysia in the individual badminton event. Saina actually bounced back from a game down to battle past Wong 19-21 23-21 21-13. It was a nail-biting 70-minute title clash in the women’s singles amidst the continuous cheering from the enthusiastic crowd at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

In the first game, Saina struggled a lot to judge the shuttle. She also lost few points at the forecourt and nets. The game actually slipped out of her hands after she trailed 8-11 at the break. But Saina wasn’t ready to give up. She came back strongly in the second. Her skills were displayed by increased number of cross shots and constant pushing of the shuttle at the back in the long rallies. This way, she came back from a 0-2 deficit to lead 14-10.

But Wong tapered the gap and wrested the lead at 21-10. Saina soon closed the game with two more points to roar back into the challenge. In the decider, Saina implemented a similar strategy and kept her rival away from the nets. She also used deceptive drops and tosses as weapons to lead 11-7. Saina secured her lead as Wong’s game crashed.

Wong kept hitting the shuttle out of the court and hit the nets in the final point. Saina’s happiness knew no bounds and she burst into tears. She ran into her mentor Pullela Gopichand’s arms as a gesture of gratitude.

Singapore Super Series, 2010

The 2010 Singapore Open Super Series is a top level badminton competition which was held from June 15, 2010 to June 20, 2010 in Singapore. It is the fifth BWF Super Series competition on the 2010 BWF Super Series schedule. The total purse for the event is $200,000.

This was one of the most important tournaments in Saina’a career. She won the Singapore Open with a straight-game triumph over qualifier Tzu Ying Tai in the finals. Top seed Saina took just 33 minutes to beat Chinese Taipei’s Tai 21-18 21-15 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The jubilant player confessed in an interview, “I never expected to reach the finals as there were two good Chinese players in the draw but I believed in myself and got the result I wanted.”

Hong Kong Super Series, 2010

Hong Kong Super Series is a top level badminton competition. It was last held from November 13, 2012 to November 18, 2012 in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is also the twelfth BWF Super Series competition on the 2012 BWF Super Series schedule. The total purse for the event was $350,000.

For the year 2010, it was the last of Super Series tournaments for that year. She won the title. It was the fifth gold in Saina’s treasure box. The best thing about this match was the Indian involvement in it. For India, Saina was bringing the medal after a gap of about twenty-eight years. The only India to have won this title was ace badminton player Prakash Padukone.

Saina Nehwal had to beat China’s Shixian Wang 15-21, 21-16, 21-17 to clinch the Hong Kong Super Series badminton title. Saina fought her way to the final with a gruelling three-game victory over sixth seed Juliane Schenk of Germany in Wanchai.

Saina became India’s pride after earning a 21-19 17-21 21-12 win over Juliane in a 53-minute women’s singles semi-final match. She focussed on playing a tactical game after she lost the first game. Saina actually clawed her way back with some fast-paced rallies. Her dynamic smashes were enough to outwit the Chinese world number five. In the second game, Saina jumped to 11-5 from 5-5. However, Shixian narrowed the gap to 11-10 before her and rushed forward to 19-11 by registering seven straight points.

Saina missed a couple of points on the baseline and nets. This allowed Shixian close the gap to 19-16. However, the Chinese soon hit the shuttle out and Saina was back into the match. Towards the end, Saina and Shixian were engaged in a gruelling battle. Both didn’t give up an inch to each other.

Shixian continued to push the shuttle at the back court. However, Saina was determined and gave her best. She actually sent down some powerful cross court smashes to open up a 5-0 lead.

But Shixian managed to narrow the gap owing to a couple of misjudgements on the baseline. The Chinese started playing fast rallies. She caught Saina at the nets to hit the big time 6-7 but a series of spontaneous errors and a breathtaking cross court smash saw Saina change sides with an 11-9 lead.