[1]If the Indian Badminton League is a platform to showcase Indian talent, Saina Nehwal, has proved to be the leader of the pack.
Having won six straight matches, she once again downed P.V. Sindhu 21-15, 21-7 in 35 minutes to prove that the World Championship bronze medallist still needs to develop an all-round game like Saina.
The win in the women’s singles put Hyderabad Hotshots and Awadhe Warriors at 1-1 in the tournament final at the NSCI complex here on Saturday night.
The much-talked about encounter between two leading ladies of Indian badminton in an electrifying atmosphere turned out to be a one-sided contest with Saina bagging the first game in 17 minutes.
Both her drop shots and smashes were on target leaving very little room for Sindhu to capitalise on. Sindhu was lucky on few occasions winning four net points in the opening game. All hopes of a comeback though were drowned when a ruthless Saina took her game to an even higher level in the second, making it a no contest.
Earlier, Warriors got off to a winning start when K.Srikanth, ranked 38 in the world outplayed world no. 19 Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-12, 21-20. The Thai shuttler was slow to get off the blocks and struggled against the Indian’s smashes in the first game. Srikanth was on song in the second game too leading 7-3 at the first break but Tanongsak fought back winning five straight points to narrow the deficit to 15-13.
A nervy game ensued with the scores locked at 20-20 when yet another Srikanth smash helped Warriors pocket the first tie. To counter Warriors’ challenge in mixed doubles, the Hotshots tweaked their line-up and fielded Saina in place of Pradyna Gadre as Goh Shem’s partner.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sp3jpg-846-0