Saina Nehwal : Olympics is the toughest tournament
Indian ace Saina Nehwal said that the upcoming Rio Olympics will be the toughest tournament for her and she would like to look at it as ‘Rio Super Series’ instead of using the word Olympics. The 2012 Olympic bronze medallist is also confident about India bagging a medal in badminton at the event.
Rio will be Saina’s third Olympics, and having won the bronze in the last edition, the 26-year-old knows that the expectations around her will be bigger this time. But, the Australian Open champion believes that one needs to look at it as Rio Super Series instead of the Olympics.
“One needs to just forget [the word] Olympics. Take it as Rio Super Series. But it is the toughest tournament. There is no round which will be easy. So even if you want to forget it as the Olympics, people will keep coming and reminding you that it is the Olympics,” Saina told the Hindu on the sidelines of an event held by Hyundai to celebrate her Australian Open win.
Reflecting on her growth as a player since her bronze medal-winning performance at the Olympics, the World No.5 said that she is better placed to win a medal this time around.
“I became World No. 1 [during this period],” she said. “I won the World Championship silver medal. I beat a couple of top players whom I had never defeated before. Like Wang Yihan, Carolina , Ratchanok . There is one girl who is still a mystery for me — Tai Tzu Ying. I hope I solve that puzzle as well. She is a very technical player and one of the strong contenders,” the 26-year-old said.
Although Saina now looks healthy and strong to win a medal at Rio, a few months ago the situation was different. The former World No.1 struggled with her Achilles injury and missed most of the tournaments in the early part of 2016. She had described it as the “most challenging phase of her career”, but believes that her triumph in the Australian Open has changed everything.
One needs to just forget [the word] Olympics. Take it as Rio Super Series. But it is the toughest tournament.
“The win was about how I came back from the injury. I never thought about Olympics, rankings or anything. It was about how I could win against players who have been troubling me. I wanted to get that confidence and the winning momentum which I had lost in November in the final of the China Open. Because of the injury, I could not come back strongly. Now I am happy to have got that break,” she explained, reported the Hindu.
The 26-year-old also expressed her happiness about India sending its biggest-ever badminton contingent to Rio and said that everyone has a chance to win a medal. Apart from Saina, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy are the other Indian shuttlers qualified for the Rio Olympics.
“I am really happy that we are seven this time. It has improved so much from last time. All of us have been performing well for the last two or three years. I am sure we have a lot of chances.”
Also read: P V Sindhu: A worthy successor to Saina