aina!

India's Saina Nehwa/ takes the women's singles title at the 2014 Star Australian Badminton Open

• BY UTTAM MUKHERJEE

Few in Australia discuss the game of badmi n con Bur last week, at work, I was amused to hear my colleagues, who are diehard rugby followers, t,tlking about Lin Dan.

A leading Sydney newspaper carried an a.rticl e on the bad boy of badminton, L in Dan, and O lympic bronze medal list, Indian badm.imon player, 24-yearold Saina Nehwal, who were in town for the Star Australian Open Badminton Super Ser.ies Championship being held from 24 to 29 June 2014. The $750,000 tournament in Australia was the eighth Super Series rournament this year and hugely popul ar.

The Sport Centre in Sydney

Ol ymp ic Park drew a record crmvd for the Superseries finals

Unlike previous years, the capac ity crowd had a s izeable number of people of Indian origin. 1 was also p leasantly surprised ro see two large lndian Aags prominently displayed in the stands. This was no co-incidence; it was because India's Saina Nehwal had reached the finals of tl1e Star Australian Open Badminton. Th.is atmosphere was in contrast to the earlier qualifying rounds where Saina was cheered loucUy b y just rwo very entlrnsiastic supporters!

Sunday,June 29 was a proud day for India as Saina Neh wal became tl1e first non -Chinese p layer to win the women's singles title at a Super Series in 20 14, after defeating Spain's Carolina Marin 21 - 18, 2111 in 43 minutes.

The pair had met once before, and Sa.ina won in that instance T he lirst game of the women's singles finals had some semblance of a fight becween six -seed Saina and Carofu1a; the second gan1e qL1ite one sided Saina moved around the court quickly and returned difficul t shots easily. Her younger opponent, considered as one of che feistiest p.l aye rs on the circuit, bad played well until tlie sern.i-finals, but struggled to match Saina.

In the first game, Carolina narrowed tl1e gap time and again but Saina was able co exploit he r weaknesses to rue hilt, especially around the net. Carolina cl.id nor help herself as she commi tted a service error to g ift an easy point co Saina. This ruffled her confidence and the rhythm of her serves. Carolina played some good strokes but they were neither co n sistent nor enough co snatch an advantage. Saina on the other hand made few w1forced errors and was ruthless in smashing her opponent.

For every point that Carolina won she let our a victorious shout, but Saina was generaJly composed except for a coup le o f times when she pumped the ai.r after winning a major point. After winning th e championship, Saina let out a victory cr y and tl1rew her racquet imo the crowd. Except for the initial exuberance soon after her victory, Sai n a remained quite calm and composed thereafter.

Saina's march co tl1e finals was dramatic. In me semi-finals, she had played cautiously against the number one seed, Wang Shixian from China. Sa.ina won the gruelling match 21 - 19, 16 -21 an d 21 - 15. This was a majo r viccory fo r Saina considering chat her o ppo n ent was better tanked and tlie stadium reverberated with loud chee r ing fo r Wang Sh.ixian. In the q uarterfinals , Saina had vanquished Japan's Eriko H irose in straight sets: 21 - 18 and 21 -9.

Corning to Australia for the championship, her parents felt tl1ac she did nor stand a chance of winning but could only play her best. Saina light- heartedly told tl1e media tlrnt she would party a1l night to celebrate this surprise Wlll.

"Tb.is is one vicrory which answered all the doubts," Saina said. " There we re rnan y who thought I could never Wlll aga.in.

This is a very special triumph for me because I believed I could win very soon and it happened"

\Xi'hen asked how it felt co win the A u stralian Super Series, she said that the victory was quite nne..,1Jected and altl1ough she felt happ y to have won, the feeling of winning had not yet sunk in "Surely this was the b iggest challenge because I had to prove that l still am o ne of the best players in the world," a confident Saina stared.

Saina complained about the blisters on her feet that caused much agony tl1roughouc the tournament. Duri n g the semifinals she had ro take time out dltting the match as he.r feet had to be attended to by her physio. She said that her feet hurt as she walked from her hotel ro the stadium! Saina thanked her physio profusely saying that w itl1om her help, and words of encouragement, she would not have been ab le to play in the finals. But while she was on court destroying her opponent, no o ne realised that her feet were sore and in bandages!

1n me climax of the championship, the bad boy of badm.incon, Lin Dan won against Indonesia's Simon Santoso:

2 2 -24, 21 - 16, 21 - 7 (pictured opposite page below right). The first game was a see-saw battle where Simon upstaged the double O l ympic and five time world champion. Bu t in the next two secs

Lin Dan proved to us why he is cons idered a great. l r was the finesr exhibition o f strokes thar o ne could hope ro see.

I always look forward to rhe men's d oubles as d1ey are fast and furious. Ald1ougb mT favour ite doubles p layer, Kido from Indonesia, lost in tbe semi- finals, I was mesmerised bi1 the Korean pa ir, Yong Dae Lee and Yeon Seong Yoo who won comfortably 2 1- 14, 21 - 18.

For die past three years T have attending die Austra lian Badminton Open, and dtls was d1e first year when China did not domi nate rhe finals It was good t0 see representation in d1e finals from many countries across die world.

Here is so m e spicy news d1at I

INDIAN LINK came across - which international sporrswoman has the most Facebook followers? lf you thought it was of the Williams sisters or Anna Kournikova you are wrong. Ir is Saina Neh waJ!