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Saina in World Junior Championship final
Saina Nehwal thwarted a spirited challenge from Bae Youn Joo of Korea to reach the girls' singles final at the World Junior Badminton Championship.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:37 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
New Delhi:
Saina Nehwal thwarted a spirited challenge from Bae Youn Joo of Korea to reach the girls' singles final at the World Junior Badminton Championship in Incheon, South Korea. World No 32 Saina, who etched out a stunning performance to prevail over the Korean 25-23 21-13, is now one win away from creating history. Saina, seeded 14th, disposed of Bae in just 35 minutes to set up a title clash with top seed Wang Yihan of China on Saturday. Yihan defeated Kim Moon of Korea 21-16 21-13 in the other semifinal. For Saina, the Korean was a tough nut to crack but the 16-year-old was at her aggressive best and played with a purpose. "It was a good fight. The first game was long and was tough, but I played with patience and won. In the second game, I engaged her in long rallies and it paid of," Saina said. After getting 1-0 lead, Saina grew in confidence and went all guns blazing in the second. She broke apart from 13-all and did not allow her opponent any scoring chance from there on. "We were tied 13-all in the second game, but then she started netting too often and I played my shots," she said. Expressing confidence with her current form, Saina said that, "I am happy to reach the final and satisfied with the way I am playing." "I have got some good wins in this tournament by defeating Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese and Korean girls. I hope to carry the same form in the final also," she said. (PTI)Topics mentioned in this article
Badminton Saina Nehwal
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