Not thinking about qualifying for the Olympics, reveals Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal is a former Olympic Bronze medallist
|BAI
Saina Nehwal stated that she is not thinking about qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics as of now, rather she is trying improving her fitness and taking care of her injuries going forward. The Olympic Bronze medallist, who is the 22-ranked player in the world, pulled out of the Denmark Open recently.
The pandemic situation has not spared any discipline as such, with Badminton also suffering their fair share, with the shuttlers out of action for months. The national camp for the Thomas and Uber Cup finally began on September 7, with several restrictions in place. While most of the athletes are gearing up to make a cut at the Tokyo Olympics next year, elite shuttler Saina Nehwal states that she is more focused on improving her fitness and taking care of her injuries rather than qualifying for the mega event.
“I am only trying to improve my fitness and look after my injuries during this period and I look forward to doing well in competitions. I am not thinking about qualifying for the Olympics,” said Saina Nehwal, during an interview with IANS.
“In my case, I just didn’t feel I needed to go all the way for one tournament; the ranking points won’t count towards Olympic qualification as of now. So I had a few reasons. Also, the BWF left the decision to individual athletes to take a call, so they did the best they could,” added the athlete.
The 22-ranked player in the world as per the latest BWF listings will have to move up a few spots and remain within the top 13 to make a cut to the Tokyo Olympics next year. Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal was set to feature in the BWF Denmark Open scheduled later this month, but she pulled out and decided resume only in January 2021.
