The 26-year-old former world number one badminton champion has an edge over others as she gets set to compete at the Rio Olympics this year. In Bengaluru as the face of a watch brand, Saina Nehwal spoke to us in candid chat before rushing out to continue her practice.
Talking of her preparations for the Olympics, the tall and pretty Olympics medal winner reveals, “I’ve been preparing really hard since the last three weeks. I have another four weeks to go and am working hard on my strengths and weaknesses. There are few corrections required, so I’m working on those as well. Vimal Sir is helping me work on my half smashes and get closer to my goals. It’s not easy to play at the highest level. I would like to give my best and like all the players my goal is also to come back with a gold medal. It’s a big contingent going from India this time, so we hope to have a triumphant return with lots of medals.”
Her recent victory at the Australian Open Super Series medal helped her regain her confidence after an injury as the run up to the Olympics 2016. “I’m happy I crossed that hurdle despite my injury. I wouldn’t like to compare one tournament to the other as each of them is different. My recent win was a major morale booster for me. Injuries are always difficult to battle. I’m happy I played well during the finals. Mine was a tough injury called Achilles tendonitis and it wasn’t easy to come out of it, but I kept strong and focused on my strength training.”
Are there any challenges she sees and who are the tough contenders ahead according to her, we ask and she replies, “All of them are very strong world-class players, especially Carolina, Li Xuerui, Ratchanok Intanon and Nozomi Okuhara seem strong contenders from different countries. I plan to get really hard and aggressive in my game.”
The current world number five also thanked the Prime Minister saying, “I would like to thank Modiji and the government for their support. The TOP scheme is helping a lot of Olympians like me in our preparation for the Rio.”
She looked pretty in a long, flowy black floral gown on her visit to UB City and we asked her who takes care of her style statement as she shuttles around the globe and she replies, “Moushmi Rana is my stylist and my outfit is by Prathiksha Design house.”
