India may have lost the gold in the badminton team event finals yesterday, but Saina Nehwal won the collective hearts of the country with a most memorable and extraordinary win over Mee Chew Wong 24-26, 21-17, 21-14 in perhaps the longest ladies match played worldwide ever since the new scoring system came into
being.


Jwala Gutta and V Diju in action against unseen Kien Kat and Chin Eh Hui
of Malaysia in New Delhi yesterday. pic/AFP

After the 66-minute marathon match, peppered with unusually long and memorable rallies, a beaming

Saina said: "This is the best I have ever played. It was the most extra-ordinary match I could have thought of and I must give credit to Mee Chew Wong for taking this match to such fantastic heights. "I remained focused even though I lost the first game 24-26 after having two game points.

Long rallies
"I wanted to play long rallies as I knew that the only way to defeat her was making her move all over and she is very strong in bodyline and attacking shots.

"But after losing the first game, I saw a huge lead of 10-5 and 12-6 being equalised by her. At 17-16, there was another long rally where I thought that she would finally
break.

"And I was able to get three quick points to finish off the game. In a sense, this match was more psychological than anything else."

India's hopes rested on the first match itself where Jwala Gutta and V Diju lost in three games to a scratch Malaysian combination 14-21, 21-10, 10-21.

The next match slated was of the men's singles, in which Malaysian World No 1 showed off his brilliantly classy strokes against a 20-year-old P Kashyap.