London; Birmingham. Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal fell a step short of creating history when she lost in the finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championships thus failing to become the first Indian woman to win the coveted title. In the women’s singles final  India’s Saina Nehwal lost to the reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain by 21-16, 14-21 and 7-21. The final played at Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena saw Saina at her best as she dominated the World Number 6 Marin right from the start of the match. Presently ranked No. 3 in the world Saina, however failed to maintain her record of defeating Marin in all the encounters intact. Saina was never been beaten by Carolina Marin. They met as recently as 25th January — when the Indian won 19-21 25-23 21-16. With this loss, Saina also lost the chance to become the third Indian to win the coveted All England Badminton Championship. Only two Indians — Pullela Gopichand (2001) and Prakash Padukone (1980) — have won the tournament earlier. Saina Nehwal became the first Indian in 14 years to reach the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships by virtue of a straight games win over China’s Sun Yu on Saturday.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal had earlier reached the semifinals of the event in 2010 and 2013. The girl from Hyderabad, who will turn 25 in 9 days, suddenly lost form after the first game. Supported by a cheering crowd Saina could not bring the best out of her as the match progressed. After winning the first set with ease, the reigning world champion Carolina Marin, seeded sixth, gave a tough time to Saina in the second set.  The spainard raced to victory 21-14 in the second set after overcoming 6-10 deficit in the game. The third game saw Saina completely routed by Marin.