Saina and Srikanth Win Gold Medals At China Open

Saina and Srikanth Shine At the Super Series: Both Win Gold Medals At China Open

In a day which was history in the making, ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and K. Srikanth won the women’s and men’s singles titles of the USD 700,000 China Open Super Series Premier on Sunday, 16th November. Olympic medallist Saina outshone Akane Yagamuchi of Japan while Srikanth notched up a victory over two time Olympic winner Li Dan. The stunning Super Series title wins for both the men’s and the women’s category was a major victory for India.

This is Saina’s sixth appearance in the tournament. The world number 5 won a tough game as 17 year old Akane fought tooth and nail till the final point. Saint defeated her Japanese rival 21-12 and 22-20 in a match which lasted for the duration of 42 minutes at the Haixia Olympic Sport Centre.

21 year old Srikanth showed what he was made of and he performed brilliantly to fend off a challenge from none other than 5 time world champion Lin in a match where he scored 21-19, 21-17. The men’s singles final match lasted a good 46 minutes. Since the inception of the Super Series and Premier tournaments, this is the first victory for an Indian male player. Srikanth led initially at 11-7, but Lin narrowed it down to 11-10.

The 31 year old fended off the Indian player initially but Srikanth fought back and used his powerful smash to keep the ball rolling. He gained ascendancy over Lin at 14-12. Delayed strokes form Lin led to further excitement and obstacles which Srikanth fended to reach 19-17. The Indian player earned his game point after he won a referral.

He produced a body line smash to snatch the game from Lin. The second game also was a tight contest at 8-8 till Lin managed a 11-9 lead. The Indian ace shuttler drew parity at 12-12 and the two players danced the tango till 15-15.

Srikanth slowly gained a lead and a healthy 4 match point lead. His Chinese contender saved one, but Srikanth garnered the next point to make his maiden victory in the Super Series a reality. He also won the Thailand Open Grand Prix last year and finished runner up at the 2014 Indian Open Grant Prix in Lucknow.

In her sixth appearance, Saina too won her maiden China Open title. She led 3-1 in the opening game and extended it to 8-4. Due to some miscued strokes, she lost a few points early on but she managed to regain ground. Using powerful strokes, she controlled the pace of the game and gained a massive 14-7 lead early on. In the second game, Akane had a 11-9 lead but the game turned out to be nerve wrecking as both shuttlers engaged in massive rallies before Saina shot to supremacy at 14-14.

From then on, Saina showed her superior strength and agility to her advantage and she was fantastic every step of the way. At 18-18, she earned a point and when the Japanese player closed in at 20-19, Saina shot back and won the title when Akane swung the match the other way. Saina has also won the Australian Super Series in June besides the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold earlier in the year.

For both players, this was a wonderful victory against worthy opponents.