Saina Vs China

Saina Nehwal took on world no 1 and top seed Wing Yihan of China in the women’s singles semi-final. She hadn’t beaten her opponent in their five previous meetings in various top events. The talented Indian shuttler had taken three of those encounters to a deciding third game.

Given her current form, one would have expected Saina to take the match to a third game. A win against a superior player always seemed improbable. In the opening game, Saina tried to win points with her trade mark drops and smashes but it didn’t work since everything was coming back at her. Moreover, the pressure of the occasion and the enormity of the task ahead possibly got the better of her.

She had to change her approach and pin her opponent to the baseline and play longer rallies which she did on a few occasions but it was too late by then since Yihan took the first game 21-13. The current world champion looked very sharp and was mentally tougher during the opening exchanges. Moreover, Saina committed around five uncharacteristic unforced errors.

In the second game, Saina ran her opponent close to take a 11-10 lead going into the short break. There were some remarkable rallies with Saina tossing the shuttle back and trying to engage her opponent in longer rallies and force the error. The short attacking rallies are generally not effective against the Chinese given their natural speed and reflexes.

The Indian ace played a delightful drop shot to level the score at 12-12. From then on, it was Wing Yihan all the way. Her discipline, control and mental strength were on display as she won the game with a similar score 21-13 ending the Indian’s hopes to make it to the gold medal round.

All said and done, she was beaten by a better player on the day. As usual, our news channels were quick to react with their usual frenzy with tickers such as “Saina fails to make it to the finals”, “Olympic Heartbreak” etc. Her poor father had to face a barrage of questions. I wonder how our media treats our sportsmen. There’s either too much hype or excessive criticism. I feel there is scope for being a lot more mature and balanced with their comments and judgments.

However, there were some meaningful and intelligent insights from former stars such as Vimal Kumar & Anup Sridhar. The legendary Prakash Padukone chipped in too.

All these three gentlemen felt that Saina should have been a little more patient and should have slowed down the pace of her game and tossed the shuttle a lot more. However, the support in the stadium for our Indian star was heart rending. She did give it her very best. We can only hope she recoups quickly enough so that she can focus on her bronze medal match tomorrow.

On other factor that was baffling was the scheduling of the event. Saina played a late match last night and was back on court this morning (9 am – BST). May be some rest would have helped. She now faces another Chinese opponent Wang X whom she has beaten in the past. Given Saina’s level of form and fitness, she must return from London with a highly creditable bronze medal and nothing else. We wish her success in her encounter tomorrow.