| Saina makes breakthrough as Li takes gold medal |
LONDON Chinese third seed Li Xuerui stunned top-seeded compatriot Wang Yihan 21-15, 21-23, 21-17 on Saturday to win the Olympic Games women’s badminton singles gold.
Wang was in tears on the podium in the same Wembley Arena where she had clinched the world title last year.
“Of course winning the gold medal is an exciting moment, but the glory should not be owned by myself alone but by the team,” said Li.
“Together with my team-mate, we performed quite brilliantly and gave the crowd an exciting match.”
Earlier, Saina Nehwal became the first Indian badminton player to earn an Olympic medal when world number one Wang Xin retired in tears from their bronze medal play-off.
Wang was leading 21-18, 1-0 when she was forced to quit after twice collapsing to the court with a knee injury with the second time seeing her barely able to stand.
After sitting on the court, she was helped off, and forced to concede the match.
“She was taking on water and asking for the court to be mopped and I could tell she was getting tired,” she said. “When she sat down I thought it was all part of getting tired, but it wasn’t. And it was very sad what happened.
Agence France-Presse
|
 |
|
|
| NEWS UPDATES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
