My bronze will inspire youngsters to take up badminton: Saina

Saina Nehwal reckons that her Olympic bronze medal will inspire more youngsters to take up the sport and the badminton scenario in the country will change soon with new talents coming through.

Saina Nehwal reckons that her Olympic bronze medal will inspire more youngsters to take up the sport and the badminton scenario in the country will change soon with new talents coming through.

"This medal will change a lot of things. We will see a change in the badminton scene and more girls will take up the sport. P V Sindhu is doing well and similarly many more girls will come through like in China and Korea," Saina said at the press conference after her Chinese opponent Xin Wang retired hurt from the bronze medal play-off match.

"My aim was to win an Olympic medal and I have worked hard for it for the last five, six years. The whole thing is yet to sink in, I can't believe that I have actually won an Olympic medal," she said.

Saina said she will now take a few days break and watch some movies and eat chocolates.

Asked whether she slept well last night, Saina said, "I slept well last night. But could not sleep well ahead of the semi-final match. I had a feeling that I will do well. She changed her strategy in the second half of the first set," the Hyderabadi said.

"Initially I thought she (Wang) wasting time as she was getting tired. But later i realised that it was a serious injury," she said.