Badminton Nationals: Saina Nehwal defeats PV Sindhu
As expected, at the badminton senior national championships, the fans witnessed a mouth-watering final clash between two of the country's biggest badminton icons PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. Saina Nehwal defeated PV Sindhu 21-17, 27-25 in a two-set encounter. This was the first meeting between the two Olympic medallists at the Nationals. Let us know more.
Previous encounters
Before today, Saina and Sindhu had faced each other twice, with both winning one match each. They met in 2014 Syed Modi International which Saina won and later in this year's India Open Super Series, where Sindhu came on top and went on to win the tournament. While Saina is currently ranked number 11 in the world, Sindhu is the World number 2 player.
Both are Nationals Winners
Both Sindhu and Saina have won the badminton nationals twice. Saina won it in 2006 and 2007, while Sindhu did so in 2011 and 2013.
Form guide
After her 2012 Olympic bronze, Saina has had a dip in her form plagued with injuries. She is slowly regaining her ground with the latest bronze at World Championships earlier this year. Sindhu on the other hand has been in a good form the past two years which includes her 2016 Olympic silver, two Super Series and a World Championships silver in 2017.
Run at the ongoing nationals so far
Coming back to play in the nationals after a gap of 10 long years, Saina Nehwal breezed through to reach the finals. In the semis, she comfortably defeated the fifth seed Anura Prabhudesai 21-11, 21-10. Sindhu, taking part in the event for the first time after her 2013 win, had a contrasting semis match where she overcame a tough Ruthvika Shivani 17-21, 21-15, 21-11.
