The emergence of Saina Nehwal as a world class shuttler has given India reason to be optimistic of strong performances from the 19-year-old and her teammates when the country hosts the world badminton championships in August.
The world junior champion became the first Indian woman to reach the Olympic quarter-finals at Beijing last year and having become the first from her country to crack the world top 10, she aims to break into the top five by the end of the year.
“Saina has been consistent,” national coach Pullela Gopichand said. “As a player who has been watched or constantly followed, it is a challenge for her to make sure she is plugging the gaps in her game as quickly as possible.”
“She has proved to be consistent because the year after the Olympics she has improved to seven in the world. She has been reaching, in most events, the quarter-finals or semi-finals which is a good sign,” he said.
Gopichand trains Nehwal in Hyderabad, where the world championships are being staged from Aug. 10 to Aug. 16, and he knows how difficult it will be for India to emerge from the shadow of regional powers China, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
Nehwal and male player Anup Sridhar both produced India’s best results at a world championships when they reached the quarter-finals in Kuala Lumpur two years ago and Gopichand expects better results on their home court.
“The preparations have been good,” Gopichand said. “More players are coming through, rankings have improved and the top players are playing well.
“Whenever we’ve had a tournament in India, we’ve generally had good performances,” he added. “I’d expect we would probably have our best ever returns.”
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