Saina Nehwal of Hyderabad Hotshots in action action against Pursarla Venkata Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors.
NEW DELHI: If the Indian Badminton League were a fashion show, the Saina Nehwal-PV Sindhu clash would have been definitely billed as the 'showstopper' of the night. The Independence Day holiday crowd came out in big numbers to watch the clash between two of the biggest badminton stars in the country at the Siri Fort Sports Complex and the match didn't disappoint them.
In a battle of youth and experience it was the latter who came out on top with Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina walking away a 21-19, 21-8 victor from the marquee clash. But for her team Hotshots, it went right down to the wire and V Shem Goh and Pradenya Gadre eked out a 21-9, 19-21, 11-8 win over Marcis Kido and T Sapsiree in the mixed doubles match to secure a 3-2 triumph over the Awadhe Warriors.
Finance minister P Chidambaran watched with keen interest as Saina and Sindhu walked in amidst thunderous applause. With her team Warriors trailing the Hotshots after Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand's 15-21, 21-14, 11-9 win over home favourite RMV Guru Sai Dutt in the first match, Sindhu must have been under pressure to bring parity to the tie.
Saina may be the higher ranked of the two at world No. 4 but Sindhu was the girl in form, having just returned after clinching bronze in the World Championships in China.
The 18-year-old Sindhu set the pace early on with her deft touch at the net as she moved her much experienced counterpart well across the court. A powerful cross court smash put Sindhu 5-3 ahead in Game 1 and she headed into the first break 7-3 ahead.
Saina knew a change of pace was required to get back into the encounter and that's exactly what she did, moving her game up a gear after the second interval. The intensity in the power of Saina's smashes increased after that as she quickly levelled at 15-15 and went on to clinch it 21-19.
"A lot of hype was built around this match. The media had almost written me off even before the match began. So there was a bit of pressure going into the match and I started a little tight. In the middle of the first game, I started to play more aggressively - which is how I normally play," Saina said after the match.
"There is no real rivalry between us. We train regularly together at the academy and we are good friends off the court," she added.
Once the elder Hyderabadi eased into her groove, she had the crowd dancing to her tunes. Sindhu had her band of supporters as well who kept motivating her and egging her on but that wasn't enough to help her return in the contest.
The second game was an extension of the first for Saina as she kept her foot firmly on the gas. After the early exchange of points, Saina stamped her dominance rushing to a 14-6 lead. Sindhu was fast running out of options to claw her way back in the match and the end was a mere formality at 21-8.
"This was my first match against Saina and she really managed to come back well in the first game. She started to attack more in the middle of the first game and I got more defensive in the second game which probably cost me the match," Sindhu said later
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