Japan's Okuhara clinch gold in the World Badminton Championships

Nozomi Okuhara continued her giant-killing spree in Glasgow, to defeat tournament favourite PV Sindhu of India in a nail-biting women’s singles final, on Sunday.

Although there were stages when either player would surge a few points ahead, the opposition always made their way back in each game, to keep things close, and the spectators on the edge of their seats.Okuhara drew first blood, when she managed to clinch the first game 21-19.

Although Sindhu got off the blocks early in the second game, Okuhara fought back to eventually level things up at 20-20. Sindhu finally clinched the second game 22-20, to take the match into a third and deciding game.

Both the players were stretched to the maximum in the last game, and that was evident when the referee repeatedly had to call both of them back from taking long-ish breaks. In fact,



Sindhu was even given a formal warning for taking long breaks.

Despite the interruptions, the spectators were treated to some top-class badminton, as both the players went level with each other, taking the score to 20-20. Eventually, Okuhara managed to outfox her Indian counterpart with a disguised drop-shot, to win the game, the match, and the championship.

Okuhara’s victory means that the Japanese national anthem rang out at the BWF World Championship for the first time ever. This was Japan’s first gold medal in the history of the tournament.

Both the players have played their hearts out. Sadly there has to be a winner, and Okuhara takes the cake on this occasion. She did brilliantly in the end, to dig deep into her reserves of energy and out-fox Sindhu with a trademark drop-shot.