By IANS,
Pune : Saina Nehwal Sunday became world junior badminton champion, the first Indian to do so, beating Japan’s Sayako Sato, 21-9, 21-18 in the final here.
Runner-up at the last world juniors in 2006 in South Korean city Incheon, the genial Hyderabadi capped a great year by winning the under-19 world title.
A quarterfinalist at the Beijing Olympic Games, Saina won the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix in September, her second GP victory. She then won the gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games here last month.
The Indian has been in awesome form in the tournament and did not drop a game at the Balewadi courts here. The only time she was in trouble was against Chinese Shixian Wang in the semi-final Saturday, where she briefly trailed 11-17.
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