Indian sensation Saina Nehwal hoping for gold medal in London Olympics 2012
The Indian badminton circle is now looking up to India’s top female shuttler Saina Nehwal as the biggest hope for a medal in London Olympics.
The Indian badminton legend Nandu Natekar, in an event in which he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award, gave his vote of confidence to the Saina Nehwal despite of the fact that she has been struggling throughout in 2011, mostly due to injuries.
The Natekar said, “She is the only one who has reached that level...been in the top five for some time. So naturally, she is the best hope. But it has to be seen what kind of effort she puts in ahead of the Olympics.”
The Indian badminton queen lost every time she faced the Chinese shuttlers last year and it puts a big question mark on her quest for gold medal in the London Olympics where the three Chinese shuttlers, World Number one Wang Yihan, World Number two Wang
Xin and World Number three Wang Shixian, are set to exhibit their excellence.
However, Natekar was firmed with his opinion and justified Saina’s ordinary performance, a result of back to back encounters and that she just needs to perk up her physical and mental fitness.
The Arjuna awardee Natekar said, “It has been probably difficult for her to keep on passing one Chinese after another. She probably needs a little more effort and confidence to surpass the Chinese. Chinese are the best and when you are playing one Chinese
after another, it is difficult.”
It seems aftershocks of her injuries are still there and she is trying to find her rhythm. She looked completely out of touch in her 44 minutes latest tussle with China’s Jiang Yanjiao in the Uber Cup preliminaries.
However, the Indian shuttler has still managed to sustain her position in the top four female badminton players of the world despite of her injuries and fluctuating performance in the last season.
The World Number four Saina Nehwal, along with her doubles female pair Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, is capable of stunning any world class player in the London Olympics 2012.
Tags: