MUMBAI: India’s badminton queen PV Sindhu may have been on the losing side of one of the greatest matches in the history of the World Championships against fellow 22-year-old Japanese Nozomi Okuhara. But the overarching sentiment of those priveleged to witness the second longest women’s singles badminton match in this points format at 110 minutes was that this was one of those games where both the vctor and the vanquished came out as true heroes.
And it was the woman who was dethroned by the girl from Hyderabad, Saina Nehwal, who put it perfectly. Indian Express reports that Nehwal, who watched the final standing along the railings, later walked up to coach P Gopichand and said, “Mera petrol khatam ho gaya dekhte, dekhte (I ran out of fuel, just watching this game)! Wonderful match.”
All in all though, it was a a fabulous World Championship result for India — with both Saina (Bronze) and Sindhu (Silver) on the podium.
Both Sindhu and Saina will receive cash rewards from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) after their medal winning performances in Glasgow. The BAI announced that Sindhu will receive Rs1 million lakh while Nehwal will receive Rs500,000.
This is the first time that India had won two medals at the same World Championships.
Sindhu played the final but lost to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 19-21 22-20 20-22 and had to settle for a Silver medal. Nehwal had a chance to reach her second final of World Championships but was beat by the same Japanese player in the semi-finals.
Congratulating the players for their exceptional performance in the tournament, BAI president Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “I would like to congratulate both the girls for their great performance. It has been a great journey and I am sure the performance of the players will only get better from here.”
