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London: It’s Saina versus China. Yet again. The Indian world No.5 played a near-perfect game to beat Tine Baun of Denmark and enter the last four of the Olympics at Wembley Arena on Thursday. The Indian will next play world No.1 Wang Yihan of China; the other two semifinal spots have already gone China’s way. The bottom half of the draw will see All England champion Li Xuerui take on Wang Xin.
It was an exceptional effort from Saina, as she completely controlled the complexion of the game from the start. Aware of the Dane’s steep hitting ability and her long reach, Saina tried to keep the shuttle as deep as possible, moving Baun around and clipping into the vacant areas. The lead kept mounting, as Saian went from 8-2 to 16-9 and eventually won the game at 21-15.
Baun, playing against the wind in the second game, settled down and it was a tight and tense contest. Baun was moving well and managed to unleash some of her big smashes, and slowly inched ahead at 10-7.
Saina fought back, started playing safely once again and took the next seven points in a row. Baun came right back with her big smashes, and a couple of errors from Saina took the Dane to 20-17. It was at this point that the Indian’s never-say-die spirit shone through; she first played a brilliant slice that found the sideline; the next game point was saved by a line call that Baunprotested to no avail, and the Indian quickly equalized at 20-all.
Aggressive play once again took Saina to match point, and an Olympic semifinal – the first Indian badminton player in the last four of the Olympics.
“I’m not thinking about all that,” said Saina. “The point is to win a medal for myself and the country. The last Olympic quarterfinals still haunts me. I don’t think it will ever go away.”
Asked about the line call that helped her to 19-20, Saina said: “Well, Tine is complaining about one line call – I had five line calls go against me! I’m not thinking too much… just taking one match at a time.”
