It’s Saina vs China Indian tames veteran Dane Tine Baun to set up a semifinal clash with world No 1 Yihan Wang

It’s Saina vs China

Indian tames veteran Dane Tine Baun to set up a semifinal clash with world No 1 Yihan Wang

Chants of “Go Saina Go…” reverberated throughout the Wembley Arena on Thursday. And the lusty cheering didn’t stop for the next 37 minutes until Saina Nehwal rewrote history by becoming the first-ever Indian shuttler to reach the Olympic semifinals by outsmarting No 5 seed Tine Baun of Denmark 21-15 22-20. Seeded No 4 here, Saina was in a league of her own. She played aggressively right from the word go and never lost control of the match, bar a brief spell in the second game, to beat Baun at her own game of speed. After dominating the first game, Nehwal came under pressure towards the end of second game. Fight back from 13-15, Baun raced to 20-17 before Nehwal decided enough is enough. She displayed her character and fitness, something on which she has been assiduously working with coach P Gopichand. Nehwal wrapped up the game, and the match, by winning five straight points. The 22-year-old’s win brought some cheer on an otherwise dismal day for the Indian contingent. Boxer Jai Bhagwan and shooter Ronjan Sodhi crashed out on Thursday, but Nehwal enthralled the sizeable Indian crowd with her swift movement and a flurry of smashes. She looked fitter and swifter than her 32-year-old Dane opponent, a former World No 1, throughout the quarter-final clash. Nehwal’s will face her biggest test in Friday’s semifinal clash against the top-ranked Yihan Wang of China. And yes, Nehwal has never beaten Wang in five attempts. The other semifinal will be an all-Chinese affair between No 2 seed Xin Wang and No 3 Xuerui Li. With this victory, Nehwal also bettered her quarterfinal finish at the Beijing Games. “I’m not going to think much about my opponent. I’m going to go there and give my all. It’s not that the pressure is on me to do well here; it’s on her too. The pressure of playing in the Olympics is different and I had tasted it in Beijing, which I can never forget in my life,” Nehwal said. The match was marred by some dubious line calls, starting with the first point wherein Nehwal felt the Dane’s serve had sailed long. The official, though, thought otherwise. Baun, too, complained about a call when the score was 20-all in the second. “She is complaining about one, whereas I got five (wrong calls),” Nehwal said. Her semifinal clash is just 15 hours away (1:30 pm IST). “All Chinese players are very fit. To beat them is not that easy but then if I am able to play my normal game, I should not be worried,” Nehwal said before she was whisked away by Gopichand.