Thailand GP Gold: Saina wins second title of the year

Saina Nehwal began her countdown for the 2012 London Olympic Games with a title triumph in the Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament beating home favourite Ratchanok Inthanon in a hard fought summit clash on Sunday.

The world number five, who had earlier won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold crown in March, got the better of Inthanon 19-21, 21-15, 21-10 in one hour and five minutes and also took home 7000 ranking points.

The top seed had struggled to get off the blocks quickly in this tournament and the trend continued on Sunday. Three time world junior champion Inthanon mixed her cross court drop shots with precision to trouble Saina in the first game and raced to a 19-12 lead.

However, the Indian ace was determined to prolong the game as much as possible knowing that the only way to control the match from there on was to tire out Inthanon and the trick worked.

Saina claimed five points in a row – opting to play long rallies—and though she ended up dropping the game the game plan had worked.

It was very evident in the second game that Inthanon was tiring as the Thai girl started to attempt some extravagant winners to cut short the rallies and in the bargain made quite a few errors.

Her approach provided enough invitation for Saina to go take control of the proceedings as she stepped on the gas and increased the pace of the game to pocket the second game.

The decider then turned into a one-sided affair with Saina racing to an 11-4 lead and then wrapping up the encounter in just over an hour to claim her second international title of the year.

Saina will now play in the Indonesia and Singapore Super Series before returning to India for the final leg of her Olympic preparation.

Saina’s road to title

FIRST ROUND: beat Nichaon Jindapon (Thailand) 21-13, 16-21, 21-15

SECOND ROUND: beat Li Han (China) 21-17, 21-13

QUARTERFINAL: beat Sapsiree Taerattanachi (Thailand) 21-10, 22-20

SEMIFINAL: beat Portip Buranaprasertsuk (Thailand) 22-20, 21-11

FINAL: beat Ratchanok Inthanon (Thailand) 19-21, 21-15, 21-10