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Saina Nehwal happy with new momentum, targets Asiad medal
India’s former world No 1, who beat PV Sindhu for the Commonwealth Games gold and claimed a Badminton Asian Championships bronze, has set her sights on the Asian Games.
With a second Commonwealth Games gold in her kitty, shuttle queen Saina Nehwal feels she has been able to bring out her best and is gunning for more glory at the Jakarta Asian Games in August-September.
The Olympic medallist also brought home a bronze from the Badminton Asia Championships, where she raised hopes of upstaging Taiwanese world No 1 Tai Tzu Ying, the eventual champion, in the semi-finals. Although Sania lost in straight sets, her tactics and stamina stood out.
“I am playing well and I want to win medals. Despite the loss in Wuhan where it was a matter of just the last two points, I am feeling good and moving well. It is very important to be positive when you play as the competition is tough, one wrong step and you will be out. You have to be very careful with matches and the amount of pressure you handle,” Saina said on Saturday.
The 28-year-old was felicitated by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and received Rs 20 lakh for winning the women’s singles gold at Gold Coast. PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, both singles runners-up in Australia, got Rs 10 lakh each while Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty shared Rs 15 lakh for winning the men’s doubles silver.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy received Rs7.5 lakh for their women’s doubles bronze medal.
READ | Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu are precious diamonds, says coach Pullela Gopichand
The Indian contingent was handed Rs 50 lakh (Rs 5 lakh each for 10 players) for winning the mixed team gold for the first time at the CWG. In all, BAI handed out Rs 1.3 crore, including Rs 10 lakh to chief coach Pullela Gopichand.
Saina, also a two-time World Championships medallist, is now focused on the Asiad, where winning medals will be tougher than CWG, but will also be India’s best chance to break the drought. India has not won an Asian Games badminton medal since the 1982 New Delhi edition.
“We will try for the best. It’s not going to be easy, Asian Games are almost at Olympic level. But we have been working hard, the confidence is high, it will also depend a lot on the draw but the performances should be good,” said the Hyderabad shuttler.
Saina now has three consecutive wins over Sindhu (world No 3), including the CWG final. Asked how big a psychological advantage it was, Saina played it down saying one has to be alert against any top-10 player, not just Sindhu. Saina is currently world No 10.
“It is not only about me playing Sindhu. If you see any other opponents I have played against, like Sung Ji-hyun or Nozomi Okuhara, I have a good record against most of the players. I definitely have issues with some of them. I keep working on areas where I feel I am a little weak. Sindhu or any other top-10 player, all are very dangerous.”
