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Saina gets India's maiden badminton bronze at
Olympics
Saturday August 04, 2012 08:09:39 PM,
IANS
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London:
Shuttler Saina Nehwal gave India its maiden Olympic medal in
badminton after China's Xin Wang retired hurt from the bronze
medal play-off despite winning the first game at the Wembley Arena
here Saturday.
Wang took the first game 21-18 and was leading 1-0 in the second
when she decided that she could not carry on with the right knee
injury that she picked up after a heavy landing at the end of the
first game.
World No.5 Saina became the third Indian to win a medal from the
2012 London Games after shooters Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar won
bronze and silver, respectively.
Though Saina, seeded fourth, took off well with exquisite
defensive shots in the first game, the Chinese recuperated in no
time to equalise at 5-all.
From thereon it was a Wang-dominated game all the way and the
Indian could not match her pace making many errors. She made
several poor line judgements giving away at least four points to
the World No.2.
Wang, a former World No.1, constantly caught Saina on the backfoot
and the Hyderabadi, looking nervous, could not pick her
cross-court smashes nor her drops at the net. The second seed took
a lead of 17-10.
The 22-year-old Indian was not great with the execution of shots
and earned a few points with Wang making errors.
However, Saina tried fighting back at the end of the first game
after Wang reached game point (20-14). The Commonwealth Games gold
medallist then saved four game points to make it 18-20.
But a match point away, the Chinese made a heavy landing, while
hitting a smash, and fell on the floor writhing in pain.
The referee called for medical time-out. The tournament doctor
came in and tended to her knee. The World No.2 returned to the
court with a heavily strapped right knee. Surprisingly, she
immediately sealed the game smashing Saina's serve.
Though, she won the first point in the second game, she again
dropped on the court in pain.
Saina went to comfort Wang, who had no choice but to retire as she
could not carry on.
The match was awarded to Saina, who hugged her opponent becoming
India's second woman to win an Olympic Medal after weightlifter
Karnam Malleswari at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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