Dileep Kumar
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Saina Nehwal was assured of the No. 1 rank after Spain’s Carolina Marin’s loss in the semifinals of India Open Super Series
New Delhi:Saina Nehwal celebrated her world No. 1 ranking by defeating Japan’s Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11 in front of a capacity home crowd in New Delhi on Saturday to reach her maiden final of the $275,000 India Super Series. The match lasted 43 minutes.
Nehwal, who has had a very good start to the year and even reached the final of the prestigious All England Championship earlier this month, is now the favourite to win the Super Series tournament final on Sunday against third seed Thai Ratchanok Intanon.
In the men’s tournament, K. Srikanth, who defeated Japan’s unseeded Takuma Ueda to reach the semifinal, scored a comfortable win over China’s Xue Song 21-16 and 21-13 wrapping up the game within 42 minutes in front of a packed home crowd to reach the men’s final on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Nehwal became the first India woman badminton player to be ranked No. 1 in the world, reaffirming her status as the country’s most consistent performer in the international circuit.
Nehwal will replace Olympic champion Li Xuerui as the women’s world number one badminton player, ending China’s stranglehold at the top of the rankings.
China has long dominated the women’s game and the last non-Chinese to be world number one was Denmark’s Tine Baun in December 2010.
While Li, who won Olympic gold in London, has struggled with a foot injury, the other contender for the top ranking, All England champion Carolina Marin of Spain, lost in the semifinal of the India Open super-series, as a result of which Nehwal zoomed to the top.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee were among thousands of people on social media to congratulate Nehwal for her world ranking.
“The phenomenal accomplishments of @NSaina make us very proud. I congratulate her on being the World Number 1,” Modi said on Twitter.
“Congrats Saina Nehwal on becoming World no 1 in Badminton; well deserved honour; best wishes for Indian Open Semi Final,” Mukherjee wrote on his twitter handle.
Though the official rankings will be out only on Thursday next week, Nehwal has been assured of her ascent to the top owing to Marin’s 19-21, 23-21, 20-22 loss to third seed Intanon.
Nehwal also became only the second Indian player to be ranked world No. 1 after Prakash Padukone.
The London Olympic bronze-medallist has won a staggering 14 international titles in her career and, most recently, she became the first Indian woman to make it to the finals of the prestigious All England Championships in Manchester.
“Number one is not at the back of mind right now. The only thing I am focusing on is playing all the tournaments and I want to win them,” Nehwal had said when asked about the ranking. “I want to perform well and beat the players against whom I was losing. I don’t want to lose the way I was losing in the last three years. I want to be more consistent. When you are playing well, other things fall in place”, she said.
Saina storms into India Open final after becoming World No. 1 - Livemint
New Delhi:Saina Nehwal celebrated her world No. 1 ranking by defeating Japan’s Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11 in front of a capacity home crowd in New Delhi on Saturday to reach her maiden final of the $275,000 India Super Series. The match lasted 43 minutes.
Nehwal, who has had a very good start to the year and even reached the final of the prestigious All England Championship earlier this month, is now the favourite to win the Super Series tournament final on Sunday against third seed Thai Ratchanok Intanon.
In the men’s tournament, K. Srikanth, who defeated Japan’s unseeded Takuma Ueda to reach the semifinal, scored a comfortable win over China’s Xue Song 21-16 and 21-13 wrapping up the game within 42 minutes in front of a packed home crowd to reach the men’s final on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Nehwal became the first India woman badminton player to be ranked No. 1 in the world, reaffirming her status as the country’s most consistent performer in the international circuit.
Nehwal will replace Olympic champion Li Xuerui as the women’s world number one badminton player, ending China’s stranglehold at the top of the rankings.
China has long dominated the women’s game and the last non-Chinese to be world number one was Denmark’s Tine Baun in December 2010.
While Li, who won Olympic gold in London, has struggled with a foot injury, the other contender for the top ranking, All England champion Carolina Marin of Spain, lost in the semifinal of the India Open super-series, as a result of which Nehwal zoomed to the top.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee were among thousands of people on social media to congratulate Nehwal for her world ranking.
“The phenomenal accomplishments of @NSaina make us very proud. I congratulate her on being the World Number 1,” Modi said on Twitter.
“Congrats Saina Nehwal on becoming World no 1 in Badminton; well deserved honour; best wishes for Indian Open Semi Final,” Mukherjee wrote on his twitter handle.
Though the official rankings will be out only on Thursday next week, Nehwal has been assured of her ascent to the top owing to Marin’s 19-21, 23-21, 20-22 loss to third seed Intanon.
Nehwal also became only the second Indian player to be ranked world No. 1 after Prakash Padukone.
The London Olympic bronze-medallist has won a staggering 14 international titles in her career and, most recently, she became the first Indian woman to make it to the finals of the prestigious All England Championships in Manchester.
“Number one is not at the back of mind right now. The only thing I am focusing on is playing all the tournaments and I want to win them,” Nehwal had said when asked about the ranking. “I want to perform well and beat the players against whom I was losing. I don’t want to lose the way I was losing in the last three years. I want to be more consistent. When you are playing well, other things fall in place”, she said.
Saina storms into India Open final after becoming World No. 1 - Livemint
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