Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal’s quest for becoming the first Indian woman to win the prestigious All England badminton championship ended in agony after she suffered a heart-breaking loss to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the summit clash. The World No. 3 let go of a huge opportunity to script history as she squandered an opening game lead to go down 21-16, 14-21, 7-21 to the reigning world champion in the women’s singles final. Saina, thus, failed to emulate her long-time coach Pullella Gopichand (2001) and legendary Prakash Padukone (1980), who had won the prestigious title in the past.
Saina, who has been competing at the All England since 2007, had never lost to Carolina and looked on course for an encore before the Spaniard scripted a remarkable comeback in the second game to put paid to the Indian’s hopes. After suffering heartbreaks at the semifinals of the event in 2010 and 2013, it was yet another case of ‘so near, yet so far’ for the girl from Hyderabad. After dominating the opening game completely, Saina was leading 11-9 in the second but lost steam after the break, as Carolina fought back brilliantly and bagged eight out of the last nine points. In the decider, Carolina stamped her authority with better movement to completely make it a one-sided contest.
Saina, who had defeated Carolina in the final of the Syed Modi International championship in January early this year, started as the hot favourite. In the first game, Saina exploited the chinks in Carolina’s defence as she drew her close to the net and gathered points to go into the break with a 11-6 lead. Carolina lacked the variety or deception to trouble Saina as she moved into game point at 20-11 when her rival found the net. The Spaniard saved five straight game points before the Indian closed it out.
The second game saw Saina go into the interval with a 11-9 lead. After the break, Carolina swung the momentum in her favour. She moved into a six game point advantage with a smash and then roared back into the contest when the Indian hit wide. In the decider, there was a visible change in Saina’s demeanour. The pressure probably got to her as Saina’s game crumbled inexplicably. In the end, it was a down-the-line smash from Carolina, which put the lid on her All England dreams.