When PV Sindhu met Nozomi Okuhara in the Badminton World Championships final in August, it gave us an all-time great match. The defining moment of that match was the 73-shot rally where both the Indian and the Japanese shuttlers threw everything they had at each other.

So when the two set up a rematch at the Korea Open Super Series final this time, fans were ready for another battle of will and skills. And the two finalists didn’t disappoint. Out of the eight matches they have played so far, seven have stretched to three games. This one was no different, with Sindhu emerging on top with a 22-20, 11-21, 21-18 win in the match that lasted an hour and 23 minutes.

Advertisement

Though the Korean Super Series final was nowhere close to that epic one-hour-50-minute marathon world championship final, it was still an intense clash as both players traded blows and refused to give up right till the very end.

The defining moment this time was another long and exhausting rally, with 56 shots traded, which ended in Sindhu’s favour as she moved to 19-16 in the deciding game. And the Indian didn’t let go after that as she powered her way through.

The 56-shot rally was a good indication of just how tough the match-up between Sindhu and Okuhara is becoming. Both the players were pushed to all corners of the court and they covered it with ease at first, and then through sheer grit. It was physically bruising and you could see just how much it was costing them to keep the shuttle in play. The longest rally of the match ended when Okuhara mishit it into the net and Sindhu, who had come close to the net to hit it back, just collapsed onto the court trying to catch her breath. The sight of Sindhu slowly getting back on her feet, with no energy to even celebrate her point, was a lasting image of how hard-fought her victory is.

In case you missed it, relive the epic rally here: