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It is unbelievable. Let me pinch myself: Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal becomes first Indian woman shuttler to achieve World No.1 ranking; to meet Intanon in final; Srikanth makes it to title clash

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It was hardly a year ago that Saina Nehwal lost early in the World Championship match. She was heartbroken as her compatriot PV Sindhu stepped into the limelight and was being called as the next badminton star of India. Saina desperately sought answers.

"Is it time to call it quits?" she asked herself many times.

Thankfully, she kept pushing herself to reach what she managed to achieve on Saturday. A World No. 1 ranking — the first by any Indian woman shutter — and that possibly explains what her inner voice must have told her.
"I kept losing to the top players all the time. In fact, after last year's World Championship, I even thought of quitting the game. It was a very dark time in my career. People were saying 'Saina, your career is finished'." she said after making history on Saturday.

"But, I have taken some hard decisions to get here. I moved to Bangalore and my coach Vimal set a target of May this year to reach the No.1 ranking. See, I did it in March itself," an elated Saina added.

"I have been in the top-5 for the last seven years, and thrice I became No. 2. I used to keep seeing Li Xuerui's (China) name on the top for almost one and a half years. I can finally see my name there now," she said with a smile.

Saina ended India's 35-year-long wait for a No. 1 player in badminton. She is the second Indian to reach this milestone, after stylish Prakash Padukone had gained the No. 1 ranking in 1980.

The 25-year-old Indian ended China's dominance on the top spot since 2010 after her victory over Japan's Yui Hashimoto 21-15, 21-11 to reach her maiden women's singles final of the $275,000 India Open Super Series badminton tournament here at the Siri Fort Stadium.

Saina said that celebrations can wait till Sunday as she will be up against third seed Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, who crashed Spain's Carolina Marin's dream of becoming No. 1 with a 21-19, 21-23, 22-20 victory on Saturday.

Saina did not allow her emotions get better of her. Her aim is to win this title in order to complete the celebrations. There was a simple wave to the crowd, a gentle hug to her coaches, Vimal Kumar and Madhumita Bisht.

"It is still unbelievable. Let me pinch myself!" Saina laughed referring to her top ranking. "It will probably sink in only when I see my name on the top of the ranking list."

The new official rankings will be announced by Badminton World Federation (BWF) on April 2.

"I have never reached the finals of India Open before, so this is a great moment for me here also. I always wanted to do well but somehow I missed reaching the finals here. It is the first time for me so I am excited," said Saina.

In the other match of the day, India's World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth pulled off an easy 21-16, 21-13 win over Chinese qualifier Xue Song to book a summit clash with Denmark's Viktor Axelsen, who moved into the final after Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto retired due to injury.

This would be the first time that two Indian shuttlers will contest the Super Series final.

Results: (women's singles): 1-S Nehwal (IND) bt Y Hashimoto 21-15 21-11, 3-R Intanon (THA) bt 2-C Marin 21-19 21-23 22-20; (men's singles): 2-K Srikanth (IND) bt X Song (CHN) 21-16 21-13, 6-V Axelsen bt 8-T Sugiarto (INA); (men's doubles): 3-C Biao/H Wei (CHN) bt 8-V Ivanov/I Sozonov 17-21 21-18 21-12, 7-M Petersen/M Kolding (DEN) bt 1-M Boe/C Mogensen 25-23 21-18; (mixed doubles): 1-J Nielsen/C Pedersen bt 7-P Jordan/D Susanto (INA) 21-16 21-14, 2-L Cheng/B Yixin (CHN) bt E Subaktiar/G Widjaja (INA) 21-13 21-10; (women's doubles): 2-L Ying/L Yu (CHN) bt 7-B Yixin/T Jinhua (CHN) 29-27 21-19, 1-M Matsutomo/A Takahashi (JPN) bt 3-C Pedersen/K Juhl 21-15 17-21 22-20

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