All the best for saina this year. Below are some of her best. http://www.youtube.com/user/xtremexn?feature=mhum#p/a/f/0/tlxwuxNLIfU
Fresh and ready for the challenge: Saina http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/article1512908.ece V. V. Subrahmanyam HYDERABAD, March 5, 2011 World No. 5 Saina Nehwal says her focus will mainly be on achieving consistency throughout the tournament in next week's All-England championship. “It all boils down to how well you play from the start to finish in such an event. Even the best players sometimes struggle. So I am looking at getting the basics right” the champion shuttler told The Hindu. “Honestly, my semifinal appearance in the last edition was a bit of a surprise even for me. But, things have changed a lot since then and at this level you cannot take any opponent for granted,” said Saina. “Given my current world ranking, there will be some pressure in terms of expectations. But, I am used to these things and I am in a good frame of mind,” said Saina. “Looking at the draw, I think I might run into different Chinese players with the same style of play. You have to be doubly careful when you face them and you should be able to come up with the right blend of caution and aggression. “I am not scared of the Chinese but I have to be at my best,” she said. “The four-week training programme under Gopi Sir at his Academy here was really good and I am feeling fresh and ready for the challenge,” she said. India's chief National coach P. Gopi Chand believes Saina has a great chance this time. “Given her ranking, her growing reputation and the all-round improvement in her game, she can go a long way,” he said.
Barring any Chinese who seep into to Q2 and Q4, if Saina beats just 1 Chinese, she will be the AE 2011 Champion!!
Yes, the chips all seem to be falling in place for Saina. What a lop-sided draw for the AE WS. Top heavy with Chinese
Bae Seung Hee is no pushover (if she is in the correct frame of mind... )... But I'd love to see Saina v/s Ratchanok in the semis!
As far as I can see, BSH peaked at the UC last year. She has not been that impressive since then. Plus she is a year older and at her age, one year counts for a lot
Saina in a downward spiral? Why is Saina in a downward spiral for the past 3 months or more? Is it just her physical condition and injury? Or is there something more to it? Unseeded Hirose sends fancied Saina out of All England M Ratnakar, TNN | Mar 12, 2011, 09.19pm IST HYDERABAD: Saina Nehwal's All England dream went up in smoke with a shocking defeat at the hands of Eriko Hirose of Japan 11-21, 20-22 in the quarterfinals at Birmingham on Friday. Unperturbed by the devastation caused by the tsunami back home, unseeded Hirose ousted Saina, touted as the hot favourite to reach the final after the withdrawal of defending champion Tine Baun and former world No. 1 Wang Yihan from the bottom half of the draw. full story: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...na-out-of-All-England/articleshow/7688073.cms
Saina stunned in quarters It was supposed to be her best chance of winning the coveted title but Saina Nehwal let it slip as she went down in straight games to unseeded Japanese Eriko Hirose in the quarterfinals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship. The fifth-seeded Saina, who was expected to win at the event given teh absence of some top Chinese players, lost 21-11 22-20 to her little-known Japanese rival yesterday. Full story: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.a...=8&contentid=201103132011031305381060736d3b74
Saina Nehwal let it slip as she went down in straight games to unseeded Eriko Hirose . Perhaps, Saina has not fully recovered from her last injury. .
I'm not so sure about that. I'm sure the BAI will trot that out as a convenient excuse sooner or later. However, I still have very serious doubts about the quality and efficacy of the training/coaching setup. There appears to be many deficiencies, and the most glaring is the absence of world-class coaching talent. I have repeatedly criticized Saina's visibly apparent bulk and inefficient muscle tone. Her shuffle to retrieve drops has always left her at a disadvantage. Her backhand is embarrasingly rudimentary. If a bystander can see all this, what have the BAI training/coaching staff been doing about it? From what I saw of her play at the AE2011, she did not even make the effort to get back to base position from the baseline, on so many instances I lost count. That left her hopelessly out of position, time and again. Couple that with her vulnerability against sharp drops, and you have a recipe for disaster. And that's what happened.
Saina Nehwal does not have the mental strength to make it in major tournaments, similar or even worse than LCW back in 2008. She has to toughen up her mental strength like LCW before she can contend for major titles...
Saina needs to work more on her footwork . Many BCers have thought that Saina needs to work more on her footwork. .
I would like to disagree. If anything, she is actually incredibly strong, mentally. But she is being handled incorrectly and inefficiently. Moreover, since the CWG success in New Delhi, she has become the star poster-girl for sports in India, and has been increasingly in demand in events in India that take up her time and attention, and have nothing to do with her training. Compare this to the expert and highly professional manner in which the CBA girls are handled...
Congratulations to Saina for winning at the 2011 Swiss Open . Congratulations to Saina for winning at the 2011 Swiss Open. Here is an article from Indian Express; http://www.indianexpress.com/news/saina-gets-back-to-winning-ways/765135/ ====== * ====== start article ====== * ====== Mon Mar 21 2011, 00:41 hrs New Delhi Ace-shuttler Saina Nehwal notched up her first title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold trophy with a straight-game victory in the summit clash against Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in Switzerland on Sunday. Second seed Saina beat Ji Hyun 21-13 21-14 in 43 minutes to make amends for her quarterfinal exit from the All England Super Series in Birmingham last week. The world number four Indian had beaten the unseeded Korean, ranked 19th, during the first round of Indonesia Open Super Series last year. Saina, who had a subdued beginning to the year after recovering from a ligament injury, showed her mettle all through the tournament to swell her trophy cabinet. Ji Hyun tried to keep pace with Saina till 7-7 but the Indian was indomitable as she broke off from their and surged ahead with gaint strides to pocket the first game comfortably. In the second game, Saina was ruthless as she opened a four-point lead at 7-3, and held fort to canter to her first title of the season. The 21-year-old Saina had won three Super Series titles last year — Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong Open — besides winning the Commonwealth Games gold and India Grand Prix gold. She also won the Indonesian Super Series in 2009 besides winning the Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold in 2008. ====== * ====== end article ====== * ====== .
Good for Saina in winning the 2011 Wilson SBO. However, she should not have lost to EH in the quarter-final of the AE. Had she not lost, she could have beaten Petya Nedelcheva in the semi-final and played against WXS in the final. The AE is a prestigious SS premier tournament whereas the WSBO is just a gold grand prix tournament. It was a SS tournament from 2007 to 2010.
Congratulations to Saina. But I also observe that she had to grind it out in 3 games against Eriko Hirose once again at the Swiss Open as well; almost didn't make it... The Indian media talk a lot about her ligament injury etc, but I have not seen the BAI or her coaches making any statement about her condition over the past month. She picked up the injury last December; it takes about 4 weeks at most with proper physiotherapy etc, so I don't see how they can use that as any sort of excuse for sub-par performance.
Currently, Saina is trying to play with more aggression (to smash more) . Currently, what I find is: SN is trying to play with more aggression (to smash more). Probably trying to move faster to get into position to smash (Footwork) has caused her ligament problem. .