When it was done, nearly two hours of sweat-soaked, adrenalin-charged, toe-to-toe, lung-busting, heart-wrenching badminton finished in the blink of an eye with a Nozumi Okuhara winner, PV Sindhu stood bent over double. Head nearly touching her knees, face hidden from everyone around - her coaches, that chair umpire who ridiculously kept calling her "Pusarla," her mother, the crowd.
More than being physically drained, the weight of the defeat, at that moment, looked like it had left Sindhu emotionally crushed, trying to gather herself together before straightening herself to her full height. Two points from becoming India's first world champion in badminton, another notch in what is already a mighty impressive belt, Sindhu was to be denied by her tiny, yet indestructible opponent.
Over the space of two days, Okuhara has dealt the two biggest names in Indian badminton two bruising defeats. She has stamped her game, her fortitude, her elasticity, the delicate-but-razor-sharp beauty of her court craft at the net, over two completely different players. Okuhara is all of 5 feet 1 inch, but in Glasgow has turned into a giant who has come through three straight grueling three-setters and become a worthy world champion.
As Okuhara celebrated, and Sindhu absorbed the defeat, maybe she had tears in eyes hidden from the cameras. Or maybe there was an echoing hollow, all-consuming nothingness at the leads she had let slip in every game, at key moments, through errors both forced by her opponent or those she had eagerly rushed into. Not out of fatigue necessarily but haste, eagerness to take control of the match and run away with her victories like she had all week. There were smashes that were buried in the net, kills that flew wide of empty courts or net play that didn't carry enough momentum to pop over to the other side. It must be remembered that most of the time when the rallies were long, Sindhu was able to stay in contention for the point, even if it meant pulling off reflex returns, from behind her back or at a long, ligament-tearing stretch if she needed to.
When Sindhu played the game at her pace, deep to the back of the court, slowing down Okuhara's manic returning speed and retrievability, giving herself a chance to breathe, she was able to force the error or wrap up the point. In two of the longest rallies of the match, one 43 shots long to get to 16-13 in the second game and the 73-shot gut-buster that sealed the game for Sindhu, it was Okuhara who had been worn down.
But only for that instant, where Okuhara would crumble up in theatrical disappointment, only to return, buzzing around Sindhu like a recurring nightmare of indefatigability. Okuhara's victory was one for the road-runners of world badminton, the energizer bunnies, the non-stop retrievers. The kind who reach the shuttles from the furthest corners of the court, by bending over backwards, turning their spines into such extraordinary crescents that it's a miracle they don't topple over and hit their heads on the ground. Hers is the kind of game that can wear down an opponent in every way and it was to Sindhu's credit that she brushed off every reversal and returned fresh into the fight. All the way through to the yo-yoing scorelines of the third game.
If the women's game needed an advertisement of its skill, physicality, endurance, and depth of field among its young ones, Okuhara vs Sindhu would have done nicely. Between points, the two women, both 22, looked like they were fatigued to a standstill, each considerately waiting for the other before serving. The chair umpire wasn't impressed, "On court, on court, stay on court," she kept admonishing them as the players walked off to towel off, gather a breath and take a breather. When they began the point they would once again use the diagonals of the court like elastic bands that were pulling them backwards and forwards seeking the angles to help them control points.
"More than being physically drained, the weight of the defeat, at that moment, looked like it had left Sindhu emotionally crushed"
On average, it is said that a badminton player covers 6 km during a 75-minute singles match, twice the amount of a tennis singles player; who knows how much ground Okuhara or Sindhu covered on Sunday night. Both players personified the extreme diversity of movement found in badminton - in going from vertical to horizontal, power to touch, mid-air to diving at ground level, all the time, at top speed. Okuhara did it with more frequent precision than Sindhu but more importantly, it was produced on the points it counted.
Okuhara's victory as well as the silver medal for its women's doubles pair in Glasgow has sounded out a warning to everyone dreaming of medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The force will be with Japan.
Tomorrow, Sindhu will face the new day, like the competitor she is - resolute, determined and ready to go again. There will be a debrief for the match with her coaches and she will get a chance to dispassionately analyse her own performance in her mind. Emotion will slowly be quelled with pragmatism and objectivity. Even for the Indian fan, once the gloom and dejection has dissipated, another reminder of the night will endure. When out of the four women on the medal podium after a world championship final, two were Indians.
During the ceremony, bronze winner Saina Nehwal was straight-faced and silver medalist Sindhu's composure was held together by what must have been a very tightly-clenched jaw. They were not quite the image of mutual conviviality or camaraderie, but what the hell. Better on a world championship podium than weeping together on the Friday flight home.
Only four countries have won at least one medal in every World Championships since 2011. Three are hardly a surprise: China, Indonesia and Denmark. India is the fourth. Their badminton women continue to lead the way.