Saina made the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony more pleasant for India

Ahush descended upon the sell-out crowd at the Siri Fort complex when Sania Nehwal, one game down and with a match point against her at 20- 21, was staring at defeat. It seemed that, once again, the Indian ace would crack under the weight of her home crowd’s expectations.

But after a look at coach Gopi Chand, the Hyderabadi came up with a couple of breathtaking smashes to win the game 23-21 and eventually prevail 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 over Wong Mew Choo and win the badminton CWG gold on Thursday. No sooner had the Hyderabadi won, the crowd erupted into a deafening roar as Saina became the first Indian woman shuttler to win gold at the CWG.

Seconds after winning, Sania did something she has rarely done before. She threw her racquet to the stands, where it was grabbed by an ardent fan. A perfect way to reciprocate the fans for the faith they had shown in her.

“This was undoubtedly the toughest match of my life,” said a relieved Saina after the match.

On being match point down in the second game, she said: “Well I told myself, you are match point down anyway. So, just go for your shots. Well I guess I was lucky that both my smashes landed in and I managed to win the game,” she said.

She felt that once she took a 7-3 lead in the decider, the match was hers. “Yes, once I took a 7-3 lead in the decider, I knew the match was in my grasp. I just had to be patient and not try to finish off points in a hurry,” she said.

The duel between the Indian world No.3 and Wong Choo on the court was matched by another duel off it. While Saina’s coach and former All England champion Gopi Chand plotted her moves, Wong had the former All England champion Misbun Sidek on her side. It was also interesting to see the contrasting moods of the great players.

While Gopi looked relaxed and composed, Misbun looked nervous throughout the match. At one point, the Malaysian great throw up his hands in despair after Wong missed an easy shot.

Gopi felt it was Saina’s determination that saw her achieve her goal. “I have not seen her so determined in a long time. Even after she lost the opening game, she did not lose hope. She was determined to win gold,” he said.

Misbun conceded that it was Saina’s superior fitness which made the difference. “Frankly, there was not much to choose between them. To me it seemed that it was her (Saina’s) greater fitness which was the key to her win,” he felt.

Coming into the match, the first game saw Saina making a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. Her normally accurate tosses landed beyond the baseline.

Realising that Saina was a bit nervous, Wong Choo was content to keep the shuttle in play and let Saina commit the mistakes. Despite the Indian’s best efforts, it was Wong who went on to win the opener 21- 19 in 22 minutes. The second game saw Saina leading 14-10. At this stage, there were many in the crowd who thought the Indian would easily win it and force a decider.

But Wong Choo had other ideas. She came up with a couple of hard smashes and great net flicks to reach match point at 21-20. It was at this juncture that the Indian showed her class and grit. She came up a couple of stunning smashes to win the game 23- 21 and effectively took the title away from Moo.

The decider saw Saina maintaining a five point lead at 7-2 and 11-6. Her moment of glory came with a backhand smash and history was made.