Finally, World No.12 Saina Nehwal wins the much-awaited battle against World No.3 PV Sindhu to claim gold in women’s badminton singles final on 11th Day of the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast, Australia.
Image of the Day: Our 2 champions Saina Nehwal & P.V Sindhu on the victory podium. National Anthem in the background. Such a proud moment #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/mrd3grdBiy
— India@Sports (@India_AllSports) April 15, 2018
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On the same day, Saina Nehwal registered a new record on her name after she became the first Indian shuttler to win two singles gold medals in badminton in Commonwealth Games.Earlier, she had won a gold medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games at New Delhi, India.
The crow at Gold Coast as well as the Indian fans were delighted when the badminton star won 21-18 23-21 in the high-voltage match against the 22-year-old PV Sindhu.
Congratulations girls super proud of you both @NSaina @Pvsindhu1 ???? Thank you so much for keeping our flag high???????? pic.twitter.com/FlvNY0SKWt
— sikkireddy (@sikkireddy) April 15, 2018
While the Hyderabadi shuttler surprised Saina with her unexpected smashes, on the other hand, PV Sindhu had a tough time on the court as it was difficult for her to adjust to Saina’s placement strokes.
Later, the Haryanvi shuttler’s sharp instincts helped her to take a 9-7 lead in the exciting contest. Though Sindhu tried to make a comeback after the mid-game interval, she had to bow down to the experience of the London Olympics bronze-medallist. With this, the 28-year-old badminton star claimed the opening game 21-18 in just 23 minutes.
In the second game, Sindhu was leading 19-16 at one stage but a 64-stroke rally to narrow it to 18-19 allowed Saina to make a comeback 19-19.
Meanwhile, the match was turning more intense when Sindhu again moved ahead for a 20-19 lead. At one point Sindhu seemed furious when she equalised at 21-21.
Soon, Saina decided to end the battle with a cross-court smash to finally crush her arch-rival in the finals and bag her 2nd gold as Sindhu had to settle for a silver.
With this victory, Saina has now improved her overall head-to-head record against Sindhu to 4-1.
After winning the medal, She expressed her happiness and said, “I really term it as next to my Olympic medal and my world No.1 ranking. So I would keep it somewhere there.
Further, the gold medalist said, “It’s a gift to my father and my mother, my country. It’s a very emotional moment for me after the disappointing loss in Rio due to injury.”
