Carolina Marin laid the trap. PV Sindhu resisted it for as long as she could, but then succumbed.

The women’s singles final of the 2018 badminton world championships was played up as a potential classic, a la the Rio Olympics final between these shuttlers two years ago. But it turned out to be damp squib as the Olympic champion from Spain completely dominated, outpaced and outclassed her Indian counterpart.

The warning signs were all there for Sindhu prior to the match. She would have watched her compatriot Saina Nehwal get bulldozed by the Spaniard in their quarter-final. She would have watched Marin go a game down against China’s He Bingjiao in the semi-finals but keep up her zippy and aggressive play, along with her never-say-die attitude, and eventually come out on top.

“I feel I am one of the best players in the world in terms of speed,” Marin had said after beating Nehwal. “I could control the game with my strategy.”

Sindhu had her share of warnings, but still could not avoid the trap on Sunday.

Marin has one go-to strategy: to rush her opponents and dictate the pace of the match. She did the exact same thing against Sindhu, who is also an aggressive and physical player like her. There were at least six instances during the final when Sindhu made Marin retake her serve, claiming she wasn’t ready.

“She has to be ready,” Marin told the umpire when she was trailing 9-14 in the first game. “She is delaying the game. You have to tell her.” Sindhu just smiled. Perhaps that was one of her tactics – to slow the Spaniard down.

Losing the tactical battle

However, what the Indian should have done is tried to slow Marin down during play, rather than between points. To take that lead in the first game, she had played softer strokes to avoid the Spaniard’s fast punching game. She had let Marin make errors as the Spaniard missed her lines quite a few times.

But even at 9-14 down, Marin had not given up – and she had no plans to. After working on her mental toughness for three weeks leading up the Worlds, Marin was not going to let a five-point deficit distract her. Against Bingjiao in the semis, she started the second game with the confidence of a player who had won the first comprehensively. Against Sindhu, again, she did the same.

After Sindhu’s lead was reduced to 15-13, India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand was heard telling his protégé to go for slower drops, in a bid to mix it up. Sindhu ended up getting a warning from the umpire for again not being ready for Marin’s serve, and then hit her cross-court smash into the net.

At 15-14, Sindhu asked for a new shuttle, but Marin refused, gesturing to the umpire that she was perfectly happy with the one in her hand. Sindhu ended up flicking her service return wide. The tactical war was beginning to tilt towards the Spaniard.

Marin, then, went into the lead with a body smash and flashed a huge smile Sindhu’s way. At 18-18, Sindhu got an official caution from the umpire for again not being ready to receive Marin’s serve.

The Olympic champion then won the next two points with a brilliant cross-court overhead slice before Sindhu completely miscued a lift to hand Marin two game-point opportunities. The Indian saved one of them but a booming cross-court smash from Marin won her the game, as she let out a louder-than-usual shriek. The tactical war had almost been won.

Opportunity lost

The second game was just a blur, as Marin romped home 21-10 before sinking to her knees and crying. After a rather average first half of the season – by her standards – where she had failed to go past the semi-finals of all tournaments she played in except the European championships, not many would have expected her to win her third World title.

But she did not care. She was in the zone mentally throughout the tournament and nothing could shake her out of it. “I cannot describe my emotions right now,” said Marin after the match. “I have been preparing for this moment for a long time. I feel really, really happy that I could believe in myself during this week.”

For Sindhu, this was definitely an opportunity lost to win the gold, especially after how she had dominated her two Japanese nemeses, Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi in the quarters and semis. Even the title favourite, Tai Tzu Ying, had been cleared out of the way early. This was a golden opportunity, pun intended.

She had to keep Marin guessing, mix things up, and not let her find her rhythm. Instead, Sindhu allowed her own rhythm to slip away as she fell straight into Marin’s trap. This was not a choke, as some of Sindhu’s critics might say. This was simply a crushing tactical defeat.