For Lee Chong Wei, the variety of coaches were forced upon him due to BAM's management of the coaches. Lin Dan is more controlled and they have a bigger pool of capable coaches. I am not convinced changing coaches is going to help. Removing the media distractions would help but the damage has been done. She now has media and endorsement contracts to fulfil. Gopi, I think, has his hands tied. If she can't put the commitment and quality training time in, will Gopichand gradually withdraw his commitment to her?
I seriously doubt Gopi is still coaching her, I mean yeah she is under Gopis academy but dont imagine they now have the same guru-prodigy assosiation.... Distractions may be a cause, but her fitness is the most important one, losing to so many players this year would hit her as well. The fact that she has lost so many 3 setters is another concern. She still seems to be not fully fit and playing to keep her commitments and not letting her ranking fall as much, Next year would definitely be better and give her more oppurtunities as she has lesser points to defend and if she can comeback physically and mentally strong theres no reason she cant fulfill the Indian hopes she carries along. WSX could be a great example....
I don't agree distractions are the main cause, I have always said she is too heavy plus the other players have learned her game well. The biggest problem is also not the 3 setters, the concern is she always loses when having a healthy lead. Next year is just another week, if she cannot do it now, nothing magical is going to happen next year. The best motivation for Saina would be for Sindhu to do better than her next year. WSX has something to prove to LXR & WYH who are doing so well compared to her. Too bad Saina does not have this good problem.
[h=1]Saina does it again, pulls out of Nationals[/h] http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other...ain-pulls-out-of-nationals/article5463251.ece EXCERPTS: As anticipated, out-of-form World number six Saina Nehwal has withdrawn from the National badminton championship, beginning at the Siri Fort Stadium here on Monday. Just a few hours after the Badminton Association of India (BAI) departed from the usual practice of preparing the main draw for the open events during the inter-State competitions and took the players by surprise putting up the draws for the open events, Saina sent an email to the BAI citing tiredness as the reason for pulling out. According to Punniah Choudhary, the BAI Secretary (Events), Saina stated in her mail that she was too tired after playing the BWF Superseries Finals in Kuala Lumpur. Saina’s last-minute withdrawal was not entirely unexpected since she has a history of reluctantly sending her entries for events in India and then citing a reason for withdrawal.
Acting like a diva is not going to do Saina any favours especially when going through a dry spell. She should have gone there and proved she is still the best.
Saina played the nationals when she was 16 years old and after that, she did not play any nationals. But Sindhu has been playing nationals continuously for many years and still she is playing though she has proved that she is also an upcoming player. So, Saina should learn this and play nationals . This will give boost to all the young players who are playing now. This time it seems nearly 128 players have been selected for main draw and many are still playing qualifiers. I have been following many young players nowadays though i did not have enough information about them. Mrunmayi Saoji is the one who is to be watched.. She is just 14 years old but she reached U-17 semis and U-19 quarters only to got beaten by Ruthivak shivani and Rituparna das respectively. This proves that Sindhu is an inspiration to these girls. I must say Saina did wrong thing by avoiding Senior nationals.. Very very disappointing.
I agree on that, her game never change, in top tier badminton, evolving is the key to stay, Lin dan and lee Ching Wei games changed so much since their first come. ratchanok is facing the same problems too, she need to change...
Yes, RI seems very ordinary after winning the WC. The players are ready for her trick shots and smashes. However her colleague Buma.... is doing quite well in contrast.
Could we also consider the fact that Saina chose to withdraw from the Nationals, because she's simply afraid to lose? Saina isn't in her top form and next to that, she feels the breath from players like Sindhu. For a player with such a high status, losing would probably be a huge embarrassment. I don't know how she is as a person, but I can't believe she would act as such a 'diva'. Personally she looks more like a down-to-earth, slightly introverted, professional athlete. I don't know how that's perceived in India ofcourse (how she is profiled by the media).
Missing the Nationals is her standard SOP for sometime now according to the previous post by scorpion1. I really doubt she is afraid, probably thinks she is wasting her time with juniors.
According to one of the article, Gopichand has confirmed her participation in the nationals. But later after few hours , some other article posted that Saina has withdrawn citing cold and cough.. It seems like she sent an email to BAI citing this reason..
As I have been saying always, saina has decided to give a miss to korean open super series premier . Good for her to know about herself and analyse.
Now, her form has given her new ranking in BWF ranking list. She is currently No.8 according to the ranking list which is released today. Really , she has to consider her training seriously in order to improve her ranking considerably. I just now watched her match against BYJ in BWF Superseries finals. Her game was totally different compared to her earlier matches against LiXuerui and Minatsu respectively.
scorpion1 has a point about Saina. I'd like to add that I think she needs to step back from competitive play for at least 3-4 months, go on an intensive physical/mental training/conditioning and restructuring of her diet regimen, (a great choice would be Tim Exeter) and then spend another month with another badminton coach specifically for building more skills and badminton-specific routines, apart from working strategies with Gopi or whoever. The next 3 months are in fact an ideal time window for her to do this. I have repeatedly mentioned much earlier that Gopi is not necessarily the best coach around, but he does excel at creating an atmosphere conducive to learning, and is a very clever strategist. However, no amount of clever strategy will obtain results if the player is undercooked, overweight, has glaring weaknesses, and is clearly mentally not all there and focussed. Which is an apt description of Saina Nehwal 2013. The greatest favour Gopi could do Saina is to throw her out of his academy. But I suppose, (sadly) he cannot afford to do that, either....
Break No Break, Saina needs to get back to her fitness first everything else would fall into pieces, she seems to be giving up during matches which signs a lack of motivation or due to her body not supporting her and seems like she knows this too. Hope the new year turns it around for her like this one did for WSX.
At one hand we all agree SN should skip some tournaments and on the other abuse her for not participating in the nationals, wherein I do completely support SN in this, why does a player has to play in tournaments way way below her level, what would she achieve? Nothing right now. This tournament has to offer her something and what that bargain could be is for the officials to decide.... Now dont say this tournament serves to prepare new champions, Let somebdy come consistent through this, they would anyways get a chance to meet SN in the SS and many more in the circuit if they are able to do so... Dont always think somebody would carry them through their shoulders, everyone has to make their place themselves and if they cant be consistent within Indian circuits which is below the standards they definitely dont deserve to face the worlds and neither the chance at expense of someone already established.
I am not in a line to agree the above post.. If the standard @ nationals is way below Saina's standards, she has to look at Sindhu who has surpassed her already in all means . Do Saina really feel bad about that or she is fearing to lose to someone who is well below her standards?? . Sindhu is continuously playing Nationals though she won world championship medal which nobodyelse in india has won it before (In Women's singles)!!. Attending nationals should be the priority for all those who has citizenship of india. She did not even think of it since 2006 which was when she attended the nationals at last.
Yes, Sindhu has done good but theres no need to compare her with SN, it just brings pressure nothing else, She too has surpassed the Indian Nationals Standards I shall say, but since she isn't consistent so for her the more refinement she can do to her game, the more tricky situations she could be in the more better for her, most imp more match practice with different kind of players would help her, neither does she have any weight issues/health issues/plays and practice so much that she has to live out of her home/she stays and coaches in Hyderabad itself and how many tournament does she plays throughout the year or number of matches she plays throughout? her body can recover this much of toil at her current age, whereas SN for that matter isnt younger anymore, she has reached her ripe age already I hope her to continue till RIO only, anything over that would be a bonus if she continues performing, she aint CHN or a Tine or a Juliane, neither her body can support that, the more rest she gets and more she invests in correcting the reasons she had a downfall in 2013 the better it is for her. Emotionally anyone might expect her to play in the nationals but she has played for IBL but theres no harm in expecting her to play for Hyderabad in the states or Haryana where she is from but she cannot play each day she has to pick the tournaments and she is doing a good job let her look at her body, her needs and decide. She doesnt needs to be abused for not playing in the nationals where anybody & everybody can play... who actually would learn anything by getting a drubbing of 21-4, 21-5.... Yes thats the standard, PV Sindhu might have strecthed her to 10 - 14 points during the 2 matches in IBL but thats it. On a bad day yes but who wants SN to be having a bad day at the nationals? eople cry foul when she goes out of the 1st day in India Open as well.... I would just say let the girl give full importance to herself and bring laurels internationally, If somebody other proves her mettle and deserves playing SN they would get it, it doesnt necessarily has to be Indian Nationals...
Saina may slip out of ten in the BWF rankings since she is skipping korea open. I must say, ranking does not matters. She has all the potential to beat any top 10 player at any time. She need to believe in herself. If she plays well in two tournaments of this month(Malaysia Open SS, India Open GPG), she will get that confidence which she is lacking now.
