Saina Nehwal praises PV Sindhu ; says Indian badminton going in right direction

"I think Indian badminton all over is doing well. I think along with Sindhu, Sameer also reached the finals at Hong Kong Open and all of them are doing extremely well," Saina told PTI when asked about PV Sindhu’s recent exploits on the international stage.

After her struggle at the Olympics, where she was knocked out early in the tournament, Saina Nehwal underwent a surgery on her knee. Since coming back, the 26-year-old has reached the quarterfinals of Macau Open and the Hong Kong Open, and she is pleased with how she has recovered so far.

"I had undergone surgery three months back and in fitness there is no miracle. So it will take a bit of time. But I am happy that I could reach the quarterfinals in two tournaments after coming back from rehab and just playing for two weeks on court. So I am happy with the results. I hope by January end I will be in best shape, so let's hope for the best.

"I will decide my tournaments according to my fitness level. There are no major tournaments now so I will only be looking after just my fitness level and I know results will be good. I will be playing PBL," the former World no.1 said.

Looking back at the year, where she has struggled a lot with her fitness, Saina felt that it has been an important learning curve for her, teaching her how to take care of her fitness. She said, "It was a good year, but bad also. I had won the Australian Open and then I had to go for surgery. But this is something which happens to sports-persons. What happened was not in my hand. It is in the past. I learnt a lot of things from that, where I have to get stronger and I am feeling confident about."

Saina had previously hinted at retiring from the game after returning from her injury. When asked about it, she said, "Now what to do? Now I have to play a lot more."