It’s been a wondrous week for Indian women’s badminton at the BWF World Championships 2017. Both PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal set their sights on world glory and seized it!
Saina Nehwal, the Olympic bronze medallist, defeated Scottish shuttler and local favourite Kirsty Gilmour 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in an exhilarating quarterfinal clash to advance to the semi-final and assure herself of at least a bronze medal. A silver medallist from the Championships 2015 edition, Saina dug deep into her reservoir to churn out a 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 win in a match that lasted an hour and 14 minutes.
However, she surrendered the opportunity to book a place in the women’s singles final after a difficult 21-12, 17-21, 10-21 loss to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. Even though Saina started the match strong, she let Okuhara claw her way back into the contest and claim the finals spot.
© Reuters
On the other hand, Olympic silver medallist, PV Sindhu stormed into the finals after she outclassed China’s Chen Yufei with a straight sets (21-13, 21-10) win to assure herself of at least a silver medal.
Sindhu, a two-time bronze medallist from the Championships 2013 and 2014 edition, proceeded to play Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in an absolutely scintillating final – lauded by many ‘as one of the best ever’.
After narrowly losing the first set, Sindhu fought back to win the second set off a pulsating ‘73-shot’ game point. With very little to choose between the two, and after yet another tightly contested third set, Sindhu lost the final 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 by the slimmest of margins. The gruelling match lasted an incredible hour and fifty minutes.
While Sindhu won Silver, Saina won Bronze at the BWF World Championships 2017. But more importantly, it was the first time that we had two Indian shuttlers on the podium of the World Championships. And that my friends, is our biggest win yet!
– Varun Kumar | SpreadSports
