Jakarta: Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal claimed her first BWF title in two years after three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain limped out of the Indonesia Masters final due to a leg injury, here Sunday.
The London Olympics bronze medallist, who last won a BWF title in 2017 in Malaysia, was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest. “It is important year for all of us. It was not good to see at all. It is painful. I have been getting injured a lot in the last few years and to see something like this on court is really painful,” said Saina, who had suffered a career-threatening knee injury at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“I know how it is mentally because when I got that knee injury at the Olympics. I was very upset. I was crying like anything. So I know how difficult it is for a player to go through such kind of injuries but the sport is like that, it is cruel.” It is a creditable performance for the Indian, who had suffered a shin injury late last year. “I took a break the whole of December. I played this events to see how good I am and I was surprised with myself. January 1 was my first match (PBL) against Sindhu after the injury. I didn’t do any kind of training. Doctors asked me not to do any training,” Saina said.
“But I am not happy with the way I got it today. Of course I am happy that I could reach the finals, beating difficult opponents like He Bingjiao. Both the tournaments, I am very happy with my performance. It is great to beat (Nozomi) Okuhara, Binjiao, Dinar (Dyah Ayustine). “In the finals, of course Carolina had the upper hand and I wanted to fight and see how the match goes but it was unfortunate what happened,” added the 28-year-old from Hyderabad. Olympic champion Marin was favourite to win the title. Coming into this match, she led 6-5 in her head-to-head record against Saina.
Saina had won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, a bronze at the Asian Games, besides reaching finals at the Denmark, Indonesia Masters and Syed Modi International. (PTI)
