All England Championship: Caroline Marin runs riot, beats Saina Nehwal to win the title
Birmingham: Carolina Marin crashed Saina Nehwal and Indian hopes to lift the All England Championship title in Birmingham on Sunday at the Barclaycard Arena.
Here is how the action unfolded.
The defending World Champion defeated London Olympics’ bronze medallist Nehwal 21-16, 14-21, 7-21 to lift the prestigious All England Championship title.
The final started on a bright not for Saina as she displayed solid court movement and did not give away any easy points to Marin. While the Spaniard displayed some stunning comeback antics, the Indian badminton ace won the first game 21-16 in 19 minutes.
(Photo: AP)
Saina Nehwal was quick to grab the opportunity to move ahead of Marin in the second game of the final. But the defending World Champion showed tremendous stamina and agility to outrun Saina in the second game. The 24-minute game two ended in Marin’s favour 21-14.
(Photo: AP)
In the third game, it was all Carolina Marin-show as the Spaniard gave Saina no chance and kept her under pressure from the beginning. The smashes, cross-court hits from Marin and unforced errors from Nehwal made it easy for the defending World Champion to wrap the third game 7-21 and win the final.
(Photo: AP)
Marin became the first Spaniard to lift the All England Championship title.
After creating a history of being the first Indian woman to reach the finals of the prestigious All England Championship, badminton ace Saina Nehwal was on the cusp of becoming the only third from her country, after Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Prakash Padukone (1980), to win the tournament.
But her hopes were dashed in the final by a stunning display from Marin.
However, the Indian fraternity, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, still remained solid in their support of Saina Nehwal.
Well played @NSaina! We are very proud of you. You created history by reaching the finals. Keep up the spirit.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 8, 2015Saina Nehwal has gone where we didn't believe an Indian girl could. She is still a pioneer........
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 8, 2015Still proud of you @NSaina
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 8, 2015Big disappointment for all of us but still proud of @NSaina. Full credit to Marin. She showed why she is the world champion @OGQ_India
— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) March 8, 2015Ok I called that one wrong. Nevertheless congrats @NSaina on a great tournament. You do us proud.
— Abhinav Bindra (@Abhinav_Bindra) March 8, 2015