India celebrated its most auspicious day in ladies badminton at the Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon when its 19-year old sweetheart Saina Nehwal captured the ladies singles title amidst unprecedented vocal support from an ‘alien’ crowd. Famously reputed for its raucous backing for home players and ‘underdogs’, the strongly partisan badminton-wise Indonesian spectators recognised the emergence of a new star and applauded it all the way to its final winning point and put to question the invincibility tag that has so often been associated with Chinese lady players.

The pretty Indian teenager had weaved her way through an international cast before facing Wang Lin in the final. It was Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria in the first round followed by the German Juliana Schenk in the second. In the last eight, Saina outlasted a gritty Korean challenge from Hwang Hye Youn before facing the first Chinese ‘test’ in Lu Lan.