Indian shuttle star Saina Nehwal has made it to the finals of Denmark Super Series Badminton Championship after a brilliant show of excellent placements throughout the game. She achieved this memorable feat after her Chinese opponent Yihan Wang retired midway during the semifinals owning to a persistent knee injury. After having to be content with a bronze medal at Olympics 2012, the Hyderabad player showed no signs of fatigue and displayed clear dominance over Wang, who holds the current World No. 1 ranking. With this win, Ms. Nehwal has taken revenge against Wang who defeated her during their last match in Olympics.
On the other hand, the Chinese player never appeared to be in the game right from the start. It was Saina who was leading the game when Wang finally decided to retire as they pain was becoming unbearable. During the first game, everything seemed to be going Wang’s way who pushed back Saina after the Indian shuttling ace lost five crucial opening points. What happened next was phenomenal as Saina came back strongly hitting out at her Chinese opponent and winning the concluding six points. This turnaround has brought back Saina into the match giving a much needed reprieve to her.
As a result of the sudden outburst by Saina, the first set went to her with 21-12. She carried on the same tempo by leading the second set as well when Wang finally decided to call it for the day. The second game was exactly the kind of start the Indian star was expecting as she was cruising ahead with a fluent 9-2. The exact score read 12-7 when her Chinese opponent made up her mind to retire. After being declared as the winner, she is now just one match shy of adding another title to her kitty. Apparently, it is a much needed title for her after her hopes of winning Olympic gold were dashed.
Saina Nehwal displayed tremendous skill of power and intelligence during all her previous matches of the current championship. More particularly, she changed her playing tactics under the affluent guidance of her coach and former All England star Pullela Gopi Chand. It is for this reason that she always accredits her winning ways to him. It now needs to be seen that how far Saina would be successful in winning Denmark Open. Considering her past playing record, it should be a smooth transition for her.
She will now face Juliane Schenk of Germany in the finals, which is eagerly awaited by fans back home. Saina holds the edge because of her tremendous form and the way she registered victories against her opponents in the past matches. As far as Schenk’s performance is considered, the German player scored a sweet victory against another Chinese opponent Yanjiao Jiang. It was a great comeback after losing the first set. After the results of both the semifinals going against the Chinese players, their dominance has come to a sudden end. It will now be definitely an interesting competition between both the players.
