Saina breaches Chinese citadel in title win, enters big league

Jakarta: Ace woman shuttler Saina Nehwal scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after she clinched the Indonesian Open title with a stunning victory over higher ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.

Saina clinched her maiden Super Series title beating Wang 12-21 21-18 21-9 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller that lasted 49 minutes.

Her triumph is the best ever performance by any Indian woman and at par with All England Championship titles won by Prakash Padukone and her current coach Pullela Gopichand.

In the thrilling final, world number eight Saina came from behind to outsmart world number three Wang and avenge her last week's Singapore Open Super Series loss to the same rival.

Saina took time to get into the groove as she struggled to gauge the gameplan of Wang in the first game. Wang opened a 4-9 lead and rode on her smashes and better net play o pocket the first game as Saina was left to do the catchup act.

But the Indian ace rallied her way back in the second game. Saina levelled the score at 5-5 and then moved together with her Chinese rival till 17-17 before surging ahead to pocket the second game 21-18.

In the decider, Saina was in her attacking best besides displaying better nerves in crucial moments.

After moving neck and neck till 7-7, Saina went berserk by engaging her rival in soft dribble and net play to widen the gap at 15-9 before reeling off six straight points to seal her place in history.

Hailing Saina's victory as an important milestone in Indian badminton, Badminton Association of India announced a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh as a recognition of her feat.

"It is a big moment in Indian badminton. We are proud of her achievement. We are announcing a cash reward of Rs two lakhs as an acknowledgment of Saina's hard work and achievement," BAI president V K Verma said.

"It is a moment to cherish for Indian sports. Saina has put up a lot of hard work but I will also want to thank the Sports Ministry for their support and financial help," he added.

Jyoti comes from no way to go all the way in Bilt Open

GREATER NOIDA: Jyoti Randhawa blasted a sensational final round of eight-under 64 to pip Jeev Milkha Singh and overnight leader Anirban Lahiri and cl
inch the Rs 80 lakh BILT Open title on Sunday.

The Delhi golfer made a dramatic comeback on the edge-of-the-seat final day to break clear off the pack and total 19-under 269 to win by one stroke over Jeev (67) and Lahiri (71) and pocket a prize money of Rs 12,93,200.

Riding on good approach shots and accurate putting, Randhawa clocked a flurry of birdies, starting with a hat-trick from the second to fourth holes before picking up more shots on the seventh and eighth to take the turn at five-under.

While the front nine was a smooth sail, his back nine was not too bad either. He was off the block with birdies on the 10th and 12th before he stumbled on the 13th, dropping a bogey there.

However, Randhawa fired an eagle on the 15th to total 19-under and maintained the lead as he parred the rest.

"It was the 20-footer 15th hole eagle which was the turning point of the day," Randhawa said later.

Randhawa had some anxious moment at the last hole when his tee shot landed on the edge of the hedges but the experienced campaigner chipped it away and then took an accurate approach shot before sinking a 12-footer to par the last hole.

"I am very happy. It was a great win. Since yesterday things started coming together for me. It was since last two days that I gave myself a chance and decided to go for it," Randhawa added.

"I putted like a demon and the holes looked like buckets to me today," he said while explaining his day's performance.

"I feel Indian conditions suits me and I am happy to win here but to tell the truth the feeling has not yet registered in my mind," said Randhawa, who won his fifth PGTI event with this tournament.

Jeev also had a good day in the greens despite missing some close birdie chances just by inches. The Asian number one played some immaculate drives and bunker play to close in the gap with Lahiri.

Playing his front nine first, Jeev reeled off a birdie ha-trick from third to fifth holes before dropping a bogey on the sixth to take the turn at two-under.

On resumption, he gained a shot each on the 10th, 15th and 16th holes to turn 18-under and had it not been for his seven-foot birdie putt miss in the final hole, he could well have forced a playoff with Jyoti.

"I was confident of putting the seven-foot birdie in the 18th hole. I took my time but could not manage at the end," said Jeev, who participated in a PGTI event for the first time.

"I played rock solid this week. Right from the tee to the greens, I have been playing really well all through the week. I had some number in the mind for the final round but I felt short of that. But over all I am happy with my performance," he added.

While his senior pros set the green alight, things went haywire for 21-year-old Lahiri who just could not match up with their experience.

The Bangalorean bogeyed the third, picked up a shot at the fifth but conceded a double bogey on the eighth before making amends with an eagle on the ninth.

His backward journey was equally roller-coaster as he gained a shot on the 15th but dropped one on the next. A birdie at the last hole meant he finished alongside Jeev at the second position.

"I have been getting this top five, top 10 finishes but just could not get that knock-out punch at the end and I hope I can learn from my mistakes here and do well in the next tournaments," Lahiri said.

"It was a pleasure and a learning experience for me to play alongside Jeev and Jyoti," Lahiri said.

Smashing Saina gives a fillip to Indian badminton in 2008

From being just another promising young women shuttler to breaking into the world's top 10, the year gone by has seen the metamorphosis of Saina Nehwal into a sensation, whose exploits saw India rising up the world badminton chart.
Riding on her success story, Indian badminton enjoyed a
steep-rising curve over the past few seasons to leave its mark
on the sporting canvass, which saw some of the greatest battle
of grit, patience and ability en route to some spectular titles wins which made the world to stand up and take notice.
Keeping pace with her dreams, Saina had made her intent
clear at the start of the year when she became the first Indian girl to enter a Super Series semi-final in Singapore Open before losing to Mi Zhou of Hong Kong. She also made it to the last eight of the Thailand open.
With a new found optimism, the 18-year-old then sizzled at the Beijing Games, stunning world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller to become the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals of the Olympics.
The little Hyderabadi teen soon attained the tag of a 'giant killer' as she galloped her way to an impressive win in the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open, beating Li Ya Lydia Cheah of Malaysia 21-8 21-19 in September.
The National champion also clinched the Youth Commonwealth Games and World Junior Championship titles and was adjudged the most promising player of the year by the Badminton World Federation soon after she broke into the elite bracket of top 10 players.
With the year nearing end, another opportunity came her way when she qualified for the prestigious World Super Series Masters final in Malaysia after two of the Chinese pulled out at the last moment.
However, her fate took a threatening turn when her viza got entangled in a bureaucratic quagmire. But a timely intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs saw her get the Viza on time as Saina emerged as the only Indian to reach the semifinal of the prestigious event, defeating two top level player on a single day.
The Hyderabadi teen defeated World number seven Hongyan Pi of France and world number 11 Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia in the round-robin league before going down to world number six chen Wang in the final four.
Among the men, this year saw the resurgence of Chetan Anand into the forefront once again. The 28-old-year shuttler rose like a phoenix, first winning the national champion for the third time on the trot and then romping home with the Kenya International open, Spanish Open in Madrid and Nepal Open in June.
He then reached the peak of his form, claiming the Bitburger and Czech International titles as his ranking shoot to World number 15. The Arjuna awardee also made it to the finals of Indian Open, Belgium Open and Dubai Open.
While Chetan weaved a web across his opponents in the singles, his wife and national champion Jwala Gutta kept the flag fluttering in the doubles events.
Combining with Shruti Kurian, the Hyderabadi less romped home with two titles, Nepal International Series and KLRC Bulgaria Open Grand Prix, while reaching the semi-finals of the Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix in October.
It was a year of resurgence for the seven-time national doubles champion, who had to go through a bureaucratic hegemony last year along with her husband Chetan as critics started writing their obituary. However, a gritty Jwala shrugged off all criticism and galloped her way to three more titles with partner D Viju in the mixed doubles category.
The world number 38 duo won the Nepal International Series, Bitburger Open Grand Prix and KLRC Bulgaria Open Grand Prix to complete a hattrict of titles.
While, the whole of country was celebrating the winning feats of these shuttlers, one man who sat all alone disappointed was ace shuttler Anup Sridhar.
Riding on his last year's performance, the 25-year-old Bangaorean got a ticket to the Beijing Oympics and soon became the best Indian male shuttler ranking world number 14 but an injury in the first quarter of the year dented his hopes as it kept him out of the court for most of the tournaments.
Sridhar started the year winning the All-India ranking tournament in New Delhi and reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Proton Malaysia Super Series where he lost to Hyun Il Lee, the eventual runner-up.
But after his inury he had to sit out of many tournaments including the Tata Open and the Indian Open. Even in the tournaments he played -- Indonesian Open, Singapore Open and Thailand Open -- he made an early exit.
However, a gutsy Sridhar didn't want to let go the opportunity of playing in the Beijing Games and taking a cortisone shot he took to the court, defeating Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal in the first round before going down to Shoji Sato of Japan in straight-games.
Though Sridhar attained his dream of representing India in the Olympics, the cortisone shots further prolonged his injury lay-off and he couldn't feature in any tournament after the quadrennial extravaganza.
In fine, this year has gone India's way and filled the Indians with a new aura of self-belief which is here to stay. As former All England Champion Pullela Gopichand would put it,"Indian badminton has come at the World stage."