Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Saina’s Dream Run Ends in Beijing Olympics

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India’s Saina Nehwal lost to Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics Badminton Women's Singles event. Saina did her best to progress into the semi-finals, but the Indonesian’s determination to progress further in the tournament stood in the way.

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First Game
The first game saw a great fight between the two unseeded players. Saina held the advantage for most part of the game, but she was unable to close it out early. When Saina finally won the first game at 28-26, it took her 9 game points to secure the game. For her part, Maria had two game points.

Second Game
In the second game, Maria took the lead early to make it 9-3. She maintained the lead to finish off the second game at 21-14 and did not allow Saina any chance to make a comeback.

Third Game
The third game saw Saina wresting the initiative and leading comfortably at 11-3. It seemed that she was running away with the match when she won seven points on the trot. But, Maria did not relent. She won 16 of the next 17 points and changed the direction of the game and the match. She went on a rampage to lead 19-12 in the game and Saina was unable to recover. She saved one match point at 20-14, but Maria converted the second match point to win the match at 26-28, 21-14 and 21-15.

Saina might have lost the match, but she certainly showed the fighting spirit. The Indians should be proud to have Saina in their team. We will hear more of Saina in the future. Welcome back to India, Saina! A red carpet welcome awaits you.

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