Vimal blames scheduling for Saina's loss

Former India international Vimal Kumar called the World Championships finals between PV Sindhu and Nozomi Okuhara “unbelievable”, but felt the Japanese just had a bit more gas towards the end to clinch the exhausting contest.

In the 110-minute contest punctuated with brutal rallies, Sindhu narrowly missed out on the World Championships gold losing 19-21, 22-20, 20-20 in what is now considered to be among the best women’s final clash. “It was indeed one of the best women’s singles contest. Both were extremely tired, but Sindhu’s body language could have been better. In fact, towards the closing stages at 19-19 after a long rally Okhuhara did a shadow play just to show Sindhu that she is okay,” Vimal told DH.

“But there was no loser in the match, they are both winners. It was an unbelievable match. Okuhara is an incredible tiny girl. Sindhu should have taken the first game, the way she took the second. it would have helped. But Okuhara was amazing. I don’t know how such a tiny player can play three back-to-back long matches! It shows that she was in her peak physical state.”
Vimal, who is the coach of Saina Nehwal, felt sad for her ward who also fell short to the endless stamina of Okuhara in the semifinals to settle for a bronze medal. He admitted Saina’s recovery from her quarterfinal match was not good and it was a tough loss for her. “Saina was really on top in the first game in the semifinals and was playing freely. She was slightly slack in the beginning of the second and that to a certain extent gave confidence to Okhuhara. In the slow conditions, Okhuhara just retrieved well and Saina clearly appeared out of breath in the third game,” Vimal said.

“Okuhara recovered better from her quarterfinal match against Carolina Marin whereas Saina’s recovery was not good after her match. It’s the role of technical official to ensure that players get sufficient time to recover. I felt sad for Saina. She mentioned that she felt drained out from the middle of the second game. May be she did not get enough time to recover after the match against Kristy Gilmour.

“Saina finished late after her physio sessions and dinner. By the time she went to bed it was 1 in the morning and then she had to play in the morning. This could be the reason for her feeling totally drained out in the semifinals. Overall, Saina has progressed much better this season.”