Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal received a huge boost ahead of the Rio Olympics as she clinched her second Australian Open title after defeating China’s Sun Yu in a thrilling three-game final of the Super Series badminton tournament here on Sunday.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad eked out a 11-21, 21-14, 21-19 over the World No. 12 Sun in a fighting summit clash that lasted an hour and 11 minutes here.
london Olympics bronze medallist, Saina, who had beaten two world champions — Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (2013) and China’s Yihan Wang (2011) in the quarterfinals and semifinals — thus clinched her maiden title of the season and pocketed a cheque of $56,250. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Nehwal on the victory. “Congratulations @NSaina (Saina Nehwal) for the stupendous victory. The entire nation is very proud of your sporting accomplishments (sic),” Modi said in a tweet.