India’s Saina goes down to Marin in All England final

Spain’s Carolina Marin poses for photographers on the podium after victory in the women’s singles final of the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships 2015 at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham yesterday.

AFP/Birmingham, England

Carolina Marin, the 21-year-old Andalucian who created one of the biggest sensations in badminton history last year, created another by becoming the first Spaniard ever to win an All-England title. Marin did that with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-7 women’s singles win over Saina Nehwal, the world number three from India. And it was a remarkable result for someone from a country where until now little badminton has been played, and one which follows her startling capture of the world title in Copenhagen last year. What made it all the more stunning was that Marin had never beaten Nehwal before and that she did so this time, having looked headed for defeat at a game and 6-10 down. But she transformed both the tactical emphasis and the emotion of the match, and well before the end Nehwal’s skills and movement seemed to have strangely evaporated. “This is quite amazing for me,” said Marin. “I lost to her every time before, so to beat her like this, and in this tournament, is very special indeed. “It was special when I won the world title - so many people met me at the airport - and this feels very special too. We shall see how people react this time.” Nehwal, who now has to be content with being the first Indian woman to reach this final, nevertheless started well, moving into a three-point lead at once, and extending it to nine points before consolidating it to 20-11, at which stage it seemed that the match night become very one-sided. •    Deceptive - That was because in the process Nehwal also showed how she might be tactically superior. She often kept the shuttle low and flat, away from Marin’s fine smashing and, when she lifted the shuttle, she usually moved it form side to side and was mostly accurate enough. Nehwal was also often better at the mid-court pushing and jabbing exchanges, and it became unclear how Marin was going to get back into the match. It was not until the Spaniard won the point which earned her the serve at 9-15 that she managed to land one of her powerful and deceptive round-the-head smashes for a winner. But Marin started to come good when she won five points in a row before losing the first game. And from the mid-stage of the second game she started to hustle and dictate much more, improving greatly in the mid-court exchanges, and fighting much harder. Even then Marin went 6-10 down in the second game, at which point thoughts of winning the title which had been her childhood dream might well have come into Nehwal’s head. But when Marin had hit a trademark smash followed by a kill to reach 17-13, she showed a fist and strutted provocatively across the net, and from the then on the emotions of the contest changed, as well as its tactics. Unstoppable - And once Marin had closed out the second set after a rat-a-tat mid-court exchange she got completely on top, and Nehwal seemed unable to respond. “I just lost focus and began hurrying, which was not right,” Nehwal said. “Playing against top players anything can happen at any stage, and you can always get nervous at some point in time. That’s what happened here.” By the change of ends in the decider Marin had become unstoppable. She finished with a fierce sequence of attacks and when she had won threw herself on the floor and covered her eyes, before leaping up to begin a series of embraces. “At 9-11 in the second I heard my coach calling to me,” she said. “I stuck to my game plan (speeding the rallies up more) and tried to make less mistakes. I could feel it was beginning to work but then it started working very quickly.” Earlier, the three-year run of Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir as All-England mixed doubles champions came to an end when they were beaten by Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei, the Olympic and world champions. The top-seeded Chinese pair overcame the fourth-seeded Indonesians 21-10, 21-10, thus maintaining China’s chances of winning four of the five titles, as well as Zhang Nan’s hopes of becoming the first man to win two titles at the same All-England championship for 13 years. Zhang was due to play later in the men’s doubles, the last final, and China also had players competing for titles in the men’s singles and women’s doubles.All-England champion Chen hopes to emulate legend LinWorld number one Chen Long hopes to emulate his legendary compatriot Lin Dan after regaining an All-England Open men’s singles title which some doubted he could capture a second time. The 26-year-old from Hubei repelled a brave challenge from Jan Jorgensen, the world number two from Denmark, 15-21, 21-17, 21-15, and spoke after Sunday’s win of trying to reach the five titles which Lin, the Olympic champion, has won in Birmingham. “Jorgensen is tough but Lin Dan is right up there,” said Chen, indicating the ceiling. “Lin Dan is on the highest level,” he added, despite having beaten the 31-year-old Lin in two comfortable games in Saturday’s semi-finals. “I want to catch Lin Dan’s record, but for the moment physical condition is the most important thing. I need to keep healthy and not get injured.” These words suggest that it may be Chen rather than Lin - trying to return to more regular competition to bid for a third gold medal - who is at the moment regarded by the Chinese camp as a better bet for success in Rio next year. He certainly showed patience, a good temperament, and an excellent defence and counter-attack, despite phases late in the second game when it seemed Jorgensen might be capable of a surprise. The 27-year-old from Aalborg fought tenaciously and produced some sublime moments, both with disguised net shots and brilliantly ambushing attacks, when an upset seemed not impossible. But Chen gradually imposed his familiar mid-court containing game, mixed in with darting counter-attacks. He did that by getting forward a little more and moving to the net earlier, often smothering Jorgensen’s intentions.