Saina Nehwal recorded a memorable win over PV Sindhu in the women's final of the Senior Nationals Badminton Championship 2017 on Wednesday November 8.
The second game of the match remained something incredible that sports fans can view time and time again. If there only could be an Academy Award for the best badminton moments, that game right there could have taken home the Oscar!
Saina won the match 21-17, 27-25.
Full notes from the match:
1st game
It was a tight deadlock right from the start. Nothing that we didn't expect. From the score being 3-3 to 6-6, Saina showed her superior agility and composure to play smashes and the body shots to quickly get a 10-7 lead.
Saina almost toyed with her younger counterpart, making her move side to side across the court, and finally delivering those trademark smashes when Sindhu seemed out of position.
Sindhu, who trailed 9-14, had a tough time as a lot of unforced errors and missed shots remained the highlight of her first game. The gap widened even though the Olympics silver medallist tried making a comeback.
The smashes from Saina were getting powerful and Sindhu had to pull out something incredible to level the points. That worked well as Sindhu quickly picked up a lot of points to trail 16-17.
Saina, however, having the momentum already in the first game, quickly went on to record the first advantage in the match 21-17.
Shuttler @NSaina wins Senior National Badminton Championship Women's singles Final against @Pvsindhu1#SainaNehwal @IndiaSports@Ra_THORe pic.twitter.com/0Xxysot40d
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) November 8, 2017
Second game
Sindhu had to make a comeback and she was determined from the start. Saina however kept that momentum alive and continued that incredible athleticism in the match. The lunges to scoop up the shuttle cock looked beautiful for Saina.
The lack of technology -- the ultra slow motion cameras to review line calls and umpire overrules -- in the badminton nationals may have done a bit of injustice to the shuttlers, but both knew the importance of giving their best in this match with old school rules.
Sindhu had a good start in the match but Saina steadily maintained her composure and leveled the scores 6-6. Once again, those powerful smashes remained the highlight of the Olympics bronze medallist's game.
Sindhu took a 12-9 lead in no time but Saina was not yet ready to give up. 15-13 read the score soon in favour of Sindhu.
Some misjudgements, wayward shots and unforced errors yet again cost Sindhu a couple of points as the scores got level at 18-18.
The intensity of the match smashed the roof of the indoor stadium in Nagpur as the scores became 20-20...and then 21-21...and then 22-22.
The scoreline read 25-25 as the tirelessly long rallies continued and the viewers having lost count of the total match points earned by Saina in the second game.
It was time now however for Saina to end the game in the best way possible, and yes, she did succeed. 27-25 remained the final score of the second game.
