Indian shuttlers stun New Zealand to claim bronze

Melbourne, Mar 20 (UNI) Teenage prodigy rpt teenage prodigy Saina Nehwal produced yet another dazzling performance that scripted India's stunning 3-1 win against highly rated New Zealand to win the bronze in the mixed Badminton team event in the Commonwealth Games here today.

Saina, who had beaten two top ranked players in the tie against Singapore and England yesterday, again produced a superlative show on the court leaving the rivals bemused.

This was the first time that India won a bronze medal in Badminton team event in these Games.

India started promisingly when their mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta overwhelmed second seeded Kiwi pair of Daniel Adin Shirley and P Sara Runesten in a 39-minute long encounter which the Indian won 21-17, 13-21 and 21-9.

After a nervous opening, the Kiwis looked like winning the match but the Indians battled it out grimly to pull off a major upset.

The match featured some great rallies, the longest lasting 43 strokes, and some some powerful smashes unleashed by Diju, the fastest clocking 279 kph.

However, the Indians could not extend the lead as the Kiwis drew parity when their top player John David Moody beat national champion Anup Sridhar in a gruelling match which lasted 47 minutes.

In a tantalising encounter, Anup won the first set 21-11 in 13 minutes but then committed unforced errors and conceded several negative points to lose the next two sets 8-21 -- in 11 minutes -- and 19-21 -- in 18 minutes.

This brought Saina Nehwal in court and she was pitted against Rebecca Leigh Bellingham. Though the match went on for 40 minutes, the Indian kept her cool and dictated the proceedings to win 21-13, 24-22.

Saina's powerplay proved too much for her rival in the first game and the Indian claimed it 21-13 in 14 minutes. But the next set went to wire with both the players giving their best and conceding no quarter to each other.

Saina, at one stage, led 8-2 but Leigh reduced the gap even though she could never overtake the Indian in this game.

The Indian led 9-5, then 10-7, 12-9, 14-11, 16-14 and 20-18 before wraping up the game and the match at 24-22 to give her team a 2-1 lead.

In the men's doubles, Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar combined well to overpower Daniel Adin Shirley and Craig Coper 2-1 to secure bronze for the team.

The doubles match was a long affair, lasting 46 minutes and the Indians started poorly losing the first set 11-21 but regrouped themselves very quickly and smashed their way out to victory by winning the next two sets 21-11, 21-18 in 13 and 18 minutes respectively.

Saina later expressed her unbridled joy after scripting the upset.

''I am feeling on top of the world'' said the beaming teenager from Hyderabad.

''I think we played well and deserved to win,'' she said.

Jwala Gutta praised her partner Diju for the opening match win saying, ''He played a great game'' while Diju added, ''It was a very important match for us and it paved way for the medal.'' Coach Vimal Kumar was also a happy man.

''I had predicted that we have a chance of wining a medal in the team event and I am happy that my players proved me right.'' ''The medal has come at a right time as we are going into the open events,'' he opined.

''The players will be more confident of doing well in the open events after this great show,'' he added.

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