Saina Nehwal is ranked number three in the world, she’s in full fitness and even won the Indian Open Grand Prix Gold title in January, beating reigning World Champion Caroline Marin in the final.
Saina Nehwal is ready for the All England Championships.
Its the one tournament that she knows holds the most reverence to her Indian fans after she won the Olympic bronze in 2012. The 24-year old has reached the semifinals here in 2010 and 2013 but that elusive spot in the final has stayed out of her grasp.
Before leaving for her campaign this year she told PTI, “I have never won the All England. I did reach the semis but could not go further. So I will try my best to improve my performance this year. It has always been a dream to win this title.”
Her campaign is slated her an easy start with matches against qualifiers in the first two rounds, however it gets tricky from there. Waiting for Saina - in all probability- in the quarters is China’s Yihan Wang, against whom she has a tough 1-8 record. But with the confidence of multiple victories in 2014, Saina will start the tournament with her eyes only on the finals spot.
“I won at Indonesia, Denmark and China but this is one Super Series Premier event which I would love to win. It has been a good last one month. I have trained hard in Bangalore. By God’s grace, I have no fitness issue. I hope to do well,” she said.
Saina of course will be the only Indian woman in the main draw after World number 9 PV Sindhu has been forced out of action for another 4 weeks due to a stress fracture on her left foot.
The Men’s draw though has more representation from India. Young K Srikanth, ranked 5th in the world, opens against Japan’s Kento Momota. World number 12 P Kashyap takes on sixth seed Chou Tien Che in the first round, he however has beaten the Chinese twice in the past. And there is also H S Prannoy who rose to prominense with his Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold title in 2014. The world number 18 has a relatively easy opponent in his opener, France’s Brice Leverdez.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)