Saina Nehwal

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.

 

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!

 

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

 

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.

 

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. 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.