Nandu Natekar: It was an unbelievably flawless show

Nandu Natekar

Long before India's PV Sindhu became the first Indian badminton player to clinch a gold medal at the BWF World Championships yesterday, the legendary Nandu Natekar won India's first international title in the sport. He won the men's singles crown at the Selangor International Tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 1956.

Yesterday, Natekar enjoyed watching every moment of Sindhu's 21-7, 21-7 domination of Japan's Nozomi Okuhara on his TV at his Pune residence. "It was an unbelievable display from Sindhu. I have never seen her playing as flawlessly as that before. Usually, she is prone to make unforced errors but today, she avoided that and the result was there for all to see," Natekar told mid-day over the phone.

Natekar, 86, was expecting the match to be a competitive encounter as Sindhu was up against World No. 4 Okuhara, who is also a former world champion. "I did not expect the final to be so one-sided. It's almost impossible to produce a result like this in a final but Sindhu was too good. She hardly gave Okuhara a chance. What we saw today proves that Indian players are capable of beating the top players in the world and producing good results in big events too," added Natekar, a six-time national champion.

Also Read: Pullela Gopichand: PV Sindhu must work doubly hard for Tokyo 2020

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates