Badminton player Saina Nehwal. Photo: AFP
London: Bringing glory to India, ace badminton player Saina Nehwal bagged the the bronze medal in the London Olympics after China's Xin Wang withdrew with an injury. She was trailing 18-21, 0-1 though before a knee injury forced the Chinese to retire hurt. Saina speaks to ABP News after win | Father elated with victory Saina was trying hard and catching up towards the end in the first game but even her momentum was badly broken by the injury time-out there. Ranked fifth in the world, Saina becomes only the second Indian woman to win a medal in an individual Olympic sport. How Saina clinched the bronze medal Saina
took initial lead in the first game. The Chinese, though, gauged Saina's game pretty quickly and hit back hard to wrest the initiative from the Indian. Saina was looking all at odds as Xin Wang gathered momentum and the first game looked destined to go the Chinese way. Saina was trailing 11-18 at one point in the first game before a fight back ensued. The game went extremely close as Saina closed the lead down to a mere two points. Just before the last point in the first game, Xin Wang showed signs of an injury as she went down at the back of the court. The Chinese, though, took the first game 21-18, as Saina's late charge was. 
halted Saina hugs Xi Wang after the match. Photo: AFPWang, a former World No 1 and current No 2, hurt her knee when she landed heavily on her right knee following a jump smash. She had it taped up and went back on court to smash a winner and take the first game, but collapsed on the second point of the second game, and promptly conceded. The gold medal match, later on Saturday, is an all-China affair between World No 1 Wang Yihan and No 4 Li Xuerui. Earlier in the day, Russia won its first ever badminton medal when Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova crushed Canada's Alex Bruce and Li Michele to take bronze in the women's doubles. The competition was weakened considerably with the disqualification of four pairs, including China's No.1 seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, for match fixing. Source: News Bullet
