GUANGZHOU, China: Finally, the step up from runner-up to champion was taken. Pusarla V Sindhu, after many a heartbreak, savoured her career’s biggest moment as she became the first Indian winner of the season finale at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018.
Sindhu’s 21-19 21-17 triumph in the Women’s Singles final over Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara was special as it came at the end of a year in which she won no title, having stumbled at the final hurdle of four tournaments – including the TOTAL BWF World Championships and the Asian Games. That, combined with the fact that she was runner-up at the Rio Olympics 2016, the World Championships 2017 and the Dubai World Superseries Finals 2017, meant she was carrying heavy baggage into Sunday’s final – against the player who beat her in the epic World Championships final in Glasgow last year.
At the World Tour Finals, Sindhu remained unbeaten through the week, scoring commanding wins over badminton’s biggest contemporary names: Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi, Ratchanok Intanon and Okuhara, her 2017 World Championship nemesis.
Sunday’s match was a very different battle compared to the one in Glasgow. Sindhu held back her attack, choosing to go toe-to-toe with Okuhara in the rallies. The scoring pattern told the story – apart from the very first point of the match, which Okuhara won, the Japanese could never get a lead in the whole match.
Crossing the last threshold after a string of Silvers in major finals, Sindhu pocketed her biggest single-week pay cheque totalling $120,000 (Rs 8.63 million). The World Tour Finals win took her total earnings to over Rs 42.2 million in 2018.
The win took her to No. 3 in the players’ rankings, and also third in women’s badminton singles prize earnings this year — the focus was on Worlds, Asiad and CWG — behind Tai Tzu Ying (Rs 79.8 million) and Ratchanok Intanon (Rs 49 million), Indian Express reports. Badminton’s Asia-centric reach means Sindhu doesn’t make the Top 10 list of the “world’s most marketable” female athletes, which includes the likes of the Williams sisters, racer Danica Patrick, MMA star Ronda Rousey, gymnast Simone Biles, ski racer Lindsey Vonn and athlete Allyson Felix.
An emotional Sindhu savoured the feeling of winning the biggest title of her career: “I’m really proud, the year has ended on a beautiful note. People have been asking me the same question, I think the question won’t come again – asking why I always lose in the final. Now I can say I won the Gold and I’m proud of it. It was good that people were asking me about losing so many finals, because I had to ask myself why I was losing. Finally I got the answer.
“It’s a special tournament for me because I won all my group matches and the semifinals and the final. I have no words. She fought hard, and at times I remembered the last final. But I was able to focus again. Although I won in straight games, it was very tough and each point was hard.
“I got emotional because it’s my first Gold in this tournament. I didn’t have anything in my mind. I was on my knees. I wanted this win very much.”
