p10_march21_2011
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The Morung Express SPORTS Monday 21 March 2011 10 Dimapur 10-man Man U move five points clear MANCHESTER, MARCH 20 (AFP): Dimi- tar Berbatov gave 10-man Manchester United a vital 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Saturday. With United boss Sir Alex Ferguson serving the first of his five- match touchine ban, the Premier League lead- ers looked bereft of inspiration for long periods. Their hopes of taking advantage of Arse- nal’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion seemed to have suffered a further blow 15 min- utes from time when defender Jonny Evans was shown a straight red card for an horren- dous, studs-up challenge on Bolton midfield- er Stuart Holden. But Ferguson, watching in the directors’ box, was on his feet two minutes from time when Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaske- lainen fumbled a long-range shot from Nani and substitute Berbatov was able to walk the rebound into an open goal. United are now five points clear of second- place Arsenal, who have a game in hand on the leaders. United’s troubles might have started earlier, after just three minutes to be precise, when a slip by Michael Carrick allowed Gre- tar Steinsson to find Johan Elmander who, in turn, made the perfect lay-off for midfielder Fabrice Muamba. Fortunately, for the home side, the Bolton man showed terrible foot- work and miscontrolled from just 12 yards out. It was the start of an entertaining half, even if United were well below their best. Wayne Rooney unleashed a terrific early 20-yard shot that flew wide before Paul Robin- son was required to block Javier Hernandez’s shot after a clever pull-back from Wes Brown. Rooney, in a rich vein of goalscoring form, was looking more like his old self and unleashed a volley from an Antonio Valencia cross that Jaaskelainen held well at the second attempt. Martin Petrov’s deflected cross almost played in Daniel Sturridge just six yards out, then the Bulgarian’s free-kick from near the right-hand corner flag caused panic in the home defence before being headed behind by Rooney. By the interval, Ferguson clearly recog- nised the need for change and defender Fabio and leading scor- er Berbatov came on, for Brown and Hernandez respectively. It was Nani who looked United’s most likely source of a breakthrough early after the restart, however, as he tormented Steinsson down Bolton’s right flank. But the Portuguese international could not find the breakthrough, failing with his final pass or long-range shot all too often. Instead, it was Bolton who almost drew first blood as the game passed the hour mark and David Wheater al- most connected with a Petrov corner before the Bulgarian drilled in a fierce cross-shot that just cleared the bar from another set-piece. United re- sponded again with Rooney powering into the area from the left and seeing his cross beat Jaaskelainen only to be cleared away from dan- ger by Wheat- er. The Bolton goalkeeper failed to deal properly with a Nani corner a few moments later, only for Carrick to respond with a feeble strike that flew harm- lessly off target. Berbatov finally threatened the goal 18 min- utes from time when Rooney played a short pass to him just outside the penalty area but the 20- goal United forward curled his shot well wide. Rooney might have put the ten men of United into the lead seven minutes from time as he cut in from the left only to be denied by Jaaskelainen’s smart dive low at his near post. In response, with- inaminute,Petrovfloatedinacrossforsubstitute Matt Taylor, who could only direct a free header straight at United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. That miss proved doubly costly with Nani soon bringingafinesaveoutofJaaskelainenbeforethe Finnish goalkeeper’s error, from the same play- er’s shot, allowed Berbatov to snatch the points. Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney celebrates a goal from teammate Dimitar Berbatov during their English Premier League soccer match against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England on March 19. (AP Photo) BIRMINGHAM, MARCH 20 (AFP): Arse- nal lost ground in the Pre- mier League title race de- spite battling back to earn a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday. Arsene Wenger’s side looked dead and buried with 20 minutes to play af- ter Steven Reid and Peter Odemwingie, who pun- ished a howler from goal- keeper Manuel Almunia, put Albion firmly in con- trol. But Andrey Arshavin gave Arsenal a lifeline in the 70th minute before Robin van Persie equalised eight minutes later. Even that comeback was little consolation to Ar- senal as Manchester United moved five points clear at the top with a 1-0 win over Bolton. The Gunners have a game in hand but they still look too fragile at the back to end their six-year trophy drought. The inevitable ques- tion marks over the mental toughness of Wenger’s side have surfaced during a mis- erable two weeks in which they have lost the League Cup final and crashed out of the Champions League and FA Cup. Roy Hodgson’s side must have thought they had recorded their first double over the North Lon- don side for 50 years when they established a 2-0 lead before the hour - thanks to a dreadful defensive per- formance from Wenger’s side, but Arshavin sprang to life to inspire two goals in an eight-minute spell that prevented Albion causing greater damage to their title challenge. Arshavin emerged from his shell and rifled home a wonderful diagonal shot from just inside the area to give his side hope. Soon after the diminu- tive Russian stood up a cross to the far post for substitute Nicklas Bendt- ner to head back across the six-yard box and Abdou- laye Meite got himself into a dreadful tangle under his own crossbar, allowing Robin van Persie to force the ball over the goal line to snatch a point. It was a cruel ending for Albion who had been inspired from the moment Reid exposed the frailties of Arsenal’s defending with a powerful header from Chris Brunt’s corner as Aaron Ramsey lost his man in the penalty area. Worse was to follow when Almunia, who will be haunted by the spec- tre of Jens Lehmann on the substitutes’ bench, went into his own personal men- tal meltdown just before the hour mark. He made the suicidal decision to go racing out of his penalty area to intercept a long ball, when Sebastien Squillaci could easily have dealt with the danger and the pair succeeded in pre- senting Odemwingie with a simple tap-in from the edge of the area. On the evidence of this 41-year-old German Lehm- ann, signed as a free agent this week after retiring last season, must be a better bet for the remainder of the season as Arsenal look to overturn the gap between themselves and United. At that point Arsenal’s title challenge looked over and Wenger a broken man. As it is, a point just about keeps them in the hunt, but there will be no more room for error if they want to win their first title since 2004. Arsenal lose ground despite battling draw Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin celebrates after scoring during their English Premier League soccer match against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns stadium, West Brom- wich, England on March 19. (AP Photo) INDIAN WELLS (CALI- FORNIA), MARCH 20 (AGENCIES): India’s Sa- nia Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina have won the women’s doubles title at the 2011 BNP Pari- bas Tennis Open, defeating eighth-seeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy 6-0, 7-5. Sania and Vesnina took the first set on Satur- day in just 24 minutes be- fore the Americans jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the second. Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy broke for a second time to go 5-1 up, but the Indian-Russian duo roared back to reel off six games to take the title with- out dropping a set in the en- tire tournament. Sania and Vesnina have become the fourth straight unseeded pair to win the title here. Vesnina and Rus- sian Dinara Safina won un- seeded in 2008. The other two unseeded pairs to win were Victoria Azarenka and Sania-Vesnina win Indian Wells final Elena Vesnina and Sania Mirza pose with their trophy after win- ning the WTA Doubles final of the Indian Wells event. (AFP Photo) Vera Zvonareva in 2009 and Kveta Peschke and Ka- tarina Srebotnik last year. Sania has now won 10 doubles titles and Vesnina four. They were teaming up for just the third time in tour-level competition, reaching the quarterfinals at Dubai and Doha before claiming their first title to- gether. Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy could not win a second title in their fourth WTA finals as a team. Their only victory came in Paris last month. Shaughnessy, who lost both her previous finals, has 17 career doubles titles. The unseeded Sania and Vesn- ina jelled perfectly on the court. In the process, they knocked out seventh-seed- ed Iveta Benesova and Bar- bora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 6-3. The Indian-Rus- sian pair looked vulnerable in the semifinals when they let slip a handy 5-1 lead in the second set after blank- ing opponents Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska in the first set to win 6-0, 6-4. “We tried playing to- gether in Dubai and Doha and it worked fine,” Vesnina said. “From our first match, you could see it was already a team. It really works.” INDIAN WELLS, MARCH 20 (REUTERS): Novak Djokovic extended his perfect record this sea- son to 17-0 with a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over three-time champion Roger Federer on Satur- day to reach the Indian Wells final. Serb Djokovic, who will replace Swiss Fe- derer as world number two when the new rankings are issued on Monday, broke his opponent three times in a third set of brilliant shot-making to triumph in just over two hours. “That was the biggest test of the tournament for me today,” Australian Open cham- pion Djokovic said court- side after sealing victory when a Federer backhand service return flew long. “Any time I play Roger, it’s a big challenge. He’s a great champion, especially in the later stages of a tour- nament when he plays his best tennis.” Djokovic will face top seed Rafa Nadal in Sunday’s final, the Spaniard hav- ing come from 1-4 down to power past Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s first semi. Left- hander Nadal, covering the court with his customary lightning speed, broke his opponent three times in a high-quality encounter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to win in one hour 51 minutes. Djokovic beats Federer to reach Indian Wells final INDIAN WELLS, MARCH 20 (REUTERS): Top seed Rafael Nadal stormed into the Indian Wells final with a com- manding 6-4, 6-4 victory over former US Open cham- pion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina on Saturday. The Spanish left-hander, covering the court with his customary lightning speed, broke his opponent three times in a high-quality en- counter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to win in one hour 51 minutes. A whipping top-spin forehand winner set up a first match point for Nadal who, serving at 40-0, imme- diately converted when del Potro sent a backhand ser- vice return long. The Spaniard, who will meet world number two Roger Federer or third- ranked Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final, raised both arms skywards in delight before advancing to the net to shake hands with his op- ponent. “It was really im- portant for me,” a beaming Nadal, 24, said courtside af- ter improving his win-loss record this season to 14-2. “I think I played my best match here at Indian Wells. “To come back and play the final in this tournament is fantastic for me. I need- ed a match like this to get the right rhythm and right feeling.” Champion here in 2007 and 2009, Nadal ended a three-match losing streak against the tower- ing Argentine who had won their previous encounter 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifi- nals of the 2009 US Open. Nadal overpowers del Potro to reach final Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after winning the first set against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina during a semifi- nals match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Saturday, March 19. (AP Photo) Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after defeating Roger Fe- derer of Switzerland, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in a semifinals match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Saturday, March 19. (AP Photo) NEW DELHI, MARCH 20 (PTI): Ace Indian shut- tler Saina Nehwal notched up her first title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game vic- tory in the summit clash against Ji Hyun Sung of Ko- rea in Switzerland. Second seed Saina beat Ji Hyun 21-13, 21-14 in 43 minutes to make amends for her quarterfinal exit from the All England Super Series in Birmingham last week. The world number four Indian had beaten the unseeded Korean, ranked 19th, during the first round of Indonesia Open Super Series last year. Saina, who had a sub- dued beginning to the year after recovering from a liga- ment injury, showed her mettle all through the tour- nament to swell her trophy cabinet. Ji Hyun tried to keep pace with Saina till 7-7 but the Indian was indomi- table as she broke off from their and surged ahead with gaint strides to pocket the first game comfortably. In the second game, Saina was ruthless as she opened a four-point lead at 7-3, and held fort to canter to her first title of the sea- son. The 21-year-old Saina had won three Super Series titles last year -- Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong Open -- besides winning the Commonwealth Games gold and India Grand Prix gold. She also won the Indo- nesian Super Series in 2009 besides winning the Chi- nese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold in 2008. Saina Nehwal wins Swiss Open title India’s Saina Nehwal returns a shuttlecock to Korea’s Ji Hyun Sung during their women’s singles final match at the Badminton Swiss Open tournament in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, Sunday, March 20. (AP Photo)
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Monday Instead, it was Bolton who almost drew first blood as the game passed the hour mark and David Wheater al- most connected with a Petrov corner before the Bulgarian drilled in a fierce cross-shot that just cleared the bar from another set-piece. United re- sponded again with Rooney powering into the area from the left and seeing his cross beat Jaaskelainen only to be cleared away from dan- ger by Wheat- er. The Bolton 21 March 2011 21 March 2011
Transcript of p10_march21_2011
The Morung ExpressSPORTSMonday21 March 201110 Dimapur The Morung ExpressSPORTS21 March 201110 Dimapur
10-man Man U move fi ve points clearMANCHESTER, MARCH 20 (AFP): Dimi-tar Berbatov gave 10-man Manchester United a vital 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Saturday. With United boss Sir Alex Ferguson serving the fi rst of his fi ve-match touchine ban, the Premier League lead-ers looked bereft of inspiration for long periods.
Their hopes of taking advantage of Arse-nal’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion seemed to have su� ered a further blow 15 min-utes from time when defender Jonny Evans was shown a straight red card for an horren-dous, studs-up challenge on Bolton midfi eld-er Stuart Holden. But Ferguson, watching in the directors’ box, was on his feet two minutes from time when Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaske-lainen fumbled a long-range shot from Nani and substitute Berbatov was able to walk the rebound into an open goal.
United are now fi ve points clear of second-place Arsenal, who have a game in hand on the leaders. United’s troubles might have started earlier, after just three minutes to be precise, when a slip by Michael Carrick allowed Gre-tar Steinsson to fi nd Johan Elmander who, in turn, made the perfect lay-o� for midfi elder Fabrice Muamba. Fortunately, for the home side, the Bolton man showed terrible foot-work and miscontrolled from just 12 yards out. It was the start of an entertaining half, even if United were well below their best.
Wayne Rooney unleashed a terrifi c early 20-yard shot that fl ew wide before Paul Robin-son was required to block Javier Hernandez’s shot after a clever pull-back from Wes Brown. Rooney, in a rich vein of goalscoring form, was looking more like his old self and unleashed a volley from an Antonio Valencia cross that
Jaaskelainen held well at the second attempt. Martin Petrov’s defl ected cross almost played in Daniel Sturridge just six yards out, then the Bulgarian’s free-kick from near the right-hand corner fl ag caused panic in the home defence before being headed behind by Rooney. By the interval, Ferguson clearly recog-nised the need for change and defender Fabio and leading scor-er Berbatov came on, for Brown and Hernandez respectively.
It was Nani who looked United’s most likely source of a breakthrough early after the restart, however, as he tormented Steinsson down Bolton’s right flank. But the Portuguese international could not fi nd the breakthrough, failing with his fi nal pass or long-range shot all too often.
Instead, it was Bolton who almost drew fi rst blood as the game passed the hour mark and David Wheater al-most connected with a Petrov corner before the Bulgarian drilled in a fi erce cross-shot that just cleared the bar from another set-piece. United re-sponded again with
Rooney powering into the area from the left
and seeing his cross beat Jaaskelainen
only to be cleared away from dan-
ger by Wheat-er. The Bolton
goalkeeper failed to deal properly with a Nani corner a few moments later, only for Carrick to respond with a feeble strike that fl ew harm-lessly o� target.
Berbatov fi nally threatened the goal 18 min-utes from time when Rooney played a short pass to him just outside the penalty area but the 20-goal United forward curled his shot well wide. Rooney might have put the ten men of United into the lead seven minutes from time as he cut in from the left only to be denied by Jaaskelainen’s smart dive low at his near post. In response, with-in a minute, Petrov fl oated in a cross for substitute Matt Taylor, who could only direct a free header straight at United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. That miss proved doubly costly with Nani soon bringing a fi ne save out of Jaaskelainen before the Finnish goalkeeper’s error, from the same play-er’s shot, allowed Berbatov to snatch the points.
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney celebrates a goal from teammate Dimitar Berbatov during their English Premier League soccer match against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England on March 19. (AP Photo)
B I R M I N G H A M , MARCH 20 (AFP): Arse-nal lost ground in the Pre-mier League title race de-spite battling back to earn a 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger’s side looked dead and buried with 20 minutes to play af-ter Steven Reid and Peter Odemwingie, who pun-ished a howler from goal-keeper Manuel Almunia, put Albion firmly in con-trol. But Andrey Arshavin gave Arsenal a lifeline in the 70th minute before Robin van Persie equalised eight minutes later.
Even that comeback was little consolation to Ar-senal as Manchester United moved fi ve points clear at the top with a 1-0 win over Bolton. The Gunners have a game in hand but they still look too fragile at the back to end their six-year trophy drought.
The inevitable ques-tion marks over the mental toughness of Wenger’s side have surfaced during a mis-erable two weeks in which they have lost the League Cup fi nal and crashed out of
the Champions League and FA Cup. Roy Hodgson’s side must have thought they had recorded their first double over the North Lon-don side for 50 years when they established a 2-0 lead before the hour - thanks to a dreadful defensive per-formance from Wenger’s side, but Arshavin sprang to life to inspire two goals in an eight-minute spell that prevented Albion causing greater damage to their title challenge.
Arshavin emerged from his shell and rifl ed home a wonderful diagonal shot from just inside the area to give his side hope.
Soon after the diminu-tive Russian stood up a cross to the far post for substitute Nicklas Bendt-ner to head back across the six-yard box and Abdou-laye Meite got himself into a dreadful tangle under his own crossbar, allowing Robin van Persie to force the ball over the goal line to snatch a point.
It was a cruel ending for Albion who had been inspired from the moment Reid exposed the frailties of Arsenal’s defending with a
powerful header from Chris Brunt’s corner as Aaron Ramsey lost his man in the penalty area. Worse was to follow when Almunia, who will be haunted by the spec-tre of Jens Lehmann on the substitutes’ bench, went into his own personal men-tal meltdown just before the hour mark.
He made the suicidal decision to go racing out of his penalty area to intercept a long ball, when Sebastien Squillaci could easily have dealt with the danger and the pair succeeded in pre-senting Odemwingie with a simple tap-in from the edge of the area.
On the evidence of this 41-year-old German Lehm-ann, signed as a free agent this week after retiring last season, must be a better bet for the remainder of the season as Arsenal look to overturn the gap between themselves and United.
At that point Arsenal’s title challenge looked over and Wenger a broken man.
As it is, a point just about keeps them in the hunt, but there will be no more room for error if they want to win their fi rst title since 2004.
Arsenal lose ground despite battling draw
Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin celebrates after scoring during their English Premier League soccer match against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns stadium, West Brom-wich, England on March 19. (AP Photo)
INDIAN WELLS (CALI-FORNIA), MARCH 20 (AGENCIES): India’s Sa-nia Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina have won the women’s doubles title at the 2011 BNP Pari-bas Tennis Open, defeating eighth-seeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy 6-0, 7-5. Sania and Vesnina took the fi rst set on Satur-day in just 24 minutes be-fore the Americans jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the
second. Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy broke for a second time to go 5-1 up, but the Indian-Russian duo roared back to reel o� six games to take the title with-out dropping a set in the en-tire tournament.
Sania and Vesnina have become the fourth straight unseeded pair to win the title here. Vesnina and Rus-sian Dinara Safi na won un-seeded in 2008. The other two unseeded pairs to win were Victoria Azarenka and
Sania-Vesnina win Indian Wells fi nal
Elena Vesnina and Sania Mirza pose with their trophy after win-ning the WTA Doubles fi nal of the Indian Wells event. (AFP Photo)
Vera Zvonareva in 2009 and Kveta Peschke and Ka-tarina Srebotnik last year.
Sania has now won 10 doubles titles and Vesnina four. They were teaming up for just the third time in tour-level competition, reaching the quarterfi nals at Dubai and Doha before claiming their fi rst title to-gether. Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy could not win a second title in their fourth WTA fi nals as a team. Their only victory came in Paris last month.
Shaughnessy, who lost both her previous fi nals, has 17 career doubles titles. The unseeded Sania and Vesn-ina jelled perfectly on the court. In the process, they knocked out seventh-seed-ed Iveta Benesova and Bar-bora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 6-3. The Indian-Rus-sian pair looked vulnerable in the semifi nals when they let slip a handy 5-1 lead in the second set after blank-ing opponents Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska in the fi rst set to win 6-0, 6-4.
“We tried playing to-gether in Dubai and Doha and it worked fi ne,” Vesnina said. “From our fi rst match, you could see it was already a team. It really works.”
INDIAN WELLS, MARCH 20 (REUTERS): Novak Djokovic extended his perfect record this sea-son to 17-0 with a thrilling 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over three-time champion Roger Federer on Satur-day to reach the Indian Wells fi nal. Serb Djokovic, who will replace Swiss Fe-derer as world number two when the new rankings are issued on Monday, broke his opponent three times in a third set of brilliant shot-making to triumph in just over two hours. “That was the biggest test of the tournament for me today,” Australian Open cham-pion Djokovic said court-side after sealing victory
when a Federer backhand service return flew long. “Any time I play Roger, it’s a big challenge. He’s a great champion, especially in the later stages of a tour-nament when he plays his best tennis.”
Djokovic will face top seed Rafa Nadal in Sunday’s final, the Spaniard hav-ing come from 1-4 down to power past Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in Saturday’s fi rst semi. Left-hander Nadal, covering the court with his customary lightning speed, broke his opponent three times in a high-quality encounter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to win in one hour 51 minutes.
Djokovic beats Federer to reach Indian Wells fi nal
I N D I A N W E L L S, MARCH 20 (REUTERS): Top seed Rafael Nadal stormed into the Indian Wells final with a com-manding 6-4, 6-4 victory over former US Open cham-pion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina on Saturday. The Spanish left-hander, covering the court with his customary lightning speed, broke his opponent three times in a high-quality en-counter at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden to win in one hour 51 minutes.
A whipping top-spin forehand winner set up a fi rst match point for Nadal who, serving at 40-0, imme-diately converted when del Potro sent a backhand ser-vice return long.
The Spaniard, who will meet world number two
Roger Federer or third-ranked Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s fi nal, raised both arms skywards in delight before advancing to the net to shake hands with his op-ponent. “It was really im-portant for me,” a beaming Nadal, 24, said courtside af-ter improving his win-loss record this season to 14-2. “I think I played my best match here at Indian Wells.
“To come back and play the fi nal in this tournament is fantastic for me. I need-ed a match like this to get the right rhythm and right feeling.” Champion here in 2007 and 2009, Nadal ended a three-match losing streak against the tower-ing Argentine who had won their previous encounter 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifi -nals of the 2009 US Open.
Nadal overpowers del Potro to reach fi nal
Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts after winning the fi rst set against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina during a semifi -nals match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Saturday, March 19. (AP Photo)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after defeating Roger Fe-derer of Switzerland, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in a semifi nals match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., Saturday, March 19. (AP Photo)
NEW DELHI, MARCH 20 (PTI): Ace Indian shut-tler Saina Nehwal notched up her fi rst title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game vic-tory in the summit clash against Ji Hyun Sung of Ko-rea in Switzerland.
Second seed Saina beat Ji Hyun 21-13, 21-14 in 43 minutes to make amends for her quarterfinal exit from the All England Super Series in Birmingham last week. The world number four Indian had beaten the unseeded Korean, ranked 19th, during the fi rst round of Indonesia Open Super Series last year.
Saina, who had a sub-dued beginning to the year after recovering from a liga-ment injury, showed her mettle all through the tour-nament to swell her trophy cabinet. Ji Hyun tried to keep pace with Saina till 7-7 but the Indian was indomi-table as she broke o� from their and surged ahead with gaint strides to pocket the fi rst game comfortably.
In the second game, Saina was ruthless as she opened a four-point lead at 7-3, and held fort to canter to her fi rst title of the sea-son. The 21-year-old Saina had won three Super Series titles last year -- Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong Open -- besides winning the Commonwealth Games gold and India Grand Prix gold.
She also won the Indo-nesian Super Series in 2009 besides winning the Chi-nese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold in 2008.
Saina Nehwal wins Swiss Open title
India’s Saina Nehwal returns a shuttlecock to Korea’s Ji Hyun Sung during their women’s singles fi nal match at the Badminton Swiss Open tournament in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, Sunday, March 20. (AP Photo)
