Upcoming weeks are crucial for Saina Nehwal’s Olympics preparations, says Aparna Popat
Aparna Popat, a former Women’s Singles shuttler of India, said that the forthcoming four or five weeks will be crucial for Saina Nehwal to prepare for 2012 Olympic Games which will start at London in the last week of July, 2012.
The nine times national champion Aparna commented that the World Number Five Saina has been playing impressive badminton for the last few weeks and her back to back victories at the Thailand Open and Indonesia Open will certainly give a boost to her confidence in Olympics.
However, Aparna stated that Saina needs to remain free from injuries and also should be mentally fresh before the start of mega event.
The former shuttler said that Saina stands a good chance to win a medal in Olympic Games. It is because the in-form shuttler has defeated top Chinese shuttlers in the last week’s Indonesia Open.
Aparna stated that a special training programme will serve a good role in Saina’s preparations for Olympics and it will be quite important for her to maintain her focus.
She said, "This preparation will be the key. This is the last bit of fine tuning that she can do. Having this preparation is very important. She should remain mentally fresh and injury free.”
Saina also expressed her views about the importance of upcoming weeks in her preparations.
She said, “We will have a special programme for the Olympics. It`ll be a tough 4-5 weeks for me. So, it is important to be in good shape and injury free before the Olympics because the courts there will be slow.”
Aparna also acknowledged that the rallies are expected to be long in London as compared to Indonesia considering that the shuttlecock will be a bit slow whereas in Jakarta it was fast.
She said, "In London probably the rallies are going to be longer and you may not be seeing as many quick points."
According to Aparna, to cope up with the pressure of huge expectations especially in Olympic Games is quite challenging and representing a country in this mega event always demands more physical and mental toughness to tackle that pressure.
Nevertheless, Aparna is hopeful that Saina will certainly live up to expectations and will return home with a medal from London.
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