Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal claimed her first BWF title in two years after three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain limped out of the Indonesia Masters final due to a leg injury. The London Olympics bronze medallist, who last won a BWF title in 2017 in Malaysia, was trailing 4-10 in the opening game when Marin decided to withdraw from the contest.
“It is an important year for all of us. It was not good to see at all. It is painful. I have been getting injured a lot in the last few years and to see something like this on court is really painful,” said Saina, who had suffered a career-threatening knee injury at the 2016 Rio Olympics. It is a creditable performance for the Indian, who had suffered a shin injury late last year.
“I took a break the whole of December. I played this event to see how good I am and I was surprised with myself. January 1 was my first match (PBL) against Sindhu after the injury,” Saina said. “But I am not happy with the way I got it today. Of course I am happy that I could reach the finals, beating difficult opponents like He Bingjiao. Both the tournaments, I am very happy with my performance. It is great to beat (Nozomi) Okuhara, Binjiao, Dinar (Dyah Ayustine).
“In the finals, of course Carolina had the upper hand and I wanted to fight and see how the match goes but it was unfortunate what happened,” added the 28-year-old Hyderabadi. Olympic champion Marin made a rampaging start to take the first two points before Saina started to engage her in rallies and caught the Spaniard at the net to log her first point.
But the Indian missed the backline a couple of times and also found the net to allow Marin lead 6-2 at the Istora Senayan. The Spaniard looked in good form, unleashing her aggressive brand of badminton but an unfortunate injury brought a premature end of the match when Marin, leading 9-2, landed badly on her right leg and fall on the court in agony. After a medical time out, Marin tried to continue but eventually collapsed to the ground crying. She conceded the match at 10-4 up, limping out of the stadium in tears.
