Coaches hail Saina’s attacking game against Sindhu in Senior Nationals final
November 10, 2017
NAGPUR: The sensational win by Saina Nehwal against her arch rival PV Sindhu will not only go down in the history books as one of the best women’s singles finals in the Senior National Badminton Championships but it will also act as a big morale-booster for the world No. 11.
Experts believe that an epic 21-17, 27-25 triumph in a high-quality 54-minute encounter underlined the fact that the 27-year-old Saina has regained some of her old magic and could help her extend her career by a couple of years.
Saina’s former coach Vimal Kumar thinks that the timing of her win in Nagpur is very crucial and it will keep her in a good frame of mind as she prepares to regain her title in next week’s China Open Super Series.
“It is a good confidence-booster for Saina. Both Saina and Sindhu are at the top of their games and bound to beat each other depending on their form on the day. Sindhu, in my opinion, was struggling throughout the event. The main aspect here is the fact that we had a wonderful National Championships with all top players playing,” reasoned Vimal.
All the top Indian shuttlers will compete in the two back-to-back Super Series tournaments in China and Hong Kong.
Former national champion Manjusha Kanwar praised the efforts of Saina, but at the same time she thought Sindhu was not at her best.
“I feel that Saina played really well in the big final against Sindhu. She was looking confident from the start but we didn’t see Sindhu at her best in this tournament. In my opinion Srikanth losing to Prannoy was a bigger upset of the day,” said Manjusha, now a PSPB coach.
Arun Vishnu, who performed the role of Saina’s coach in the final here at the Divisional Sports Complex on Wednesday, said playing an attacking game paid dividends for her colleague.
“Saina was more attacking in the final. She knew that her only chance of winning is if she played a fast and powerful game. I didn’t tell her much during the match as she had her own plans,” said Arun, who coaches the PSPB team.
It was difficult for Arun to act as Saina’s coach during the final as Sindhu also trains at the Gopichand Academy where he is one of the coaches.
“Since the Andhra Pradesh coach was with Sindhu, I decided to act as Saina’s coach in my capacity as a PSPB coach. I told her to play deep because whenever she was keeping the shuttle high, Sindhu was able to finish points on most occasions. Instead of hitting in the corners, Saina preferred to attack straight where Sindhu struggled to return,” said Arun.
