This I have to agree. To improve one needs to play against many better players or at least the same level. More time on court is not going to help much. Even Chong Wei diplomatically said "Only Hafiz can give him a good sparring".
She did not make an appearance among the crowd today in the Semifinal while Ashwini Ponnapa, Gupta and Sindhu were seen in the stadium... Probably too embarrassed or feared getting booed by the Indian supporters..
Your postings has become some kind of a personal vendetta against Saina. Stay away if don't like her, posting this kind of remarks is very childish.
There is no single issue for Saina's prolonged stagnation (even regression.) It's the cumulative effect of many things that have been happening in her life over the past year or more. To appreciate this, I think many people here would need to understand a little more about the unique stresses that any young star sportsperson needs to function with, in a country like India. Malaysia in a way, is not too dissimilar. Only, in India, it is magnified even more so. I have stressed on this thread much earlier, about the lack of world-class coaching and a top-level team of technical/support staff for the national team. Agreed, they do have some good people in Hyderabad at the moment, but is "good" really good enough? Especially when your objective is to win medals against players from countries like China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Denmark, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Singapore, Netherlands, Hong Kong, and dare I say, even Poland and Russia! Saina has shown a pretty level head on her strong shoulders before. I have a feeling she will learn many things on a personal and emotional level going through this trough, which will make her stronger. But that does not change the fact that there is much more to be desired in the level and quality of the national programme, and specifically, international-quality coaches (in the plural,) and full-time strategists and support staff for these players. Until that happens, I am afraid Saina and all the other talented youngsters will always be starting each week with a clear handicap. To sum up: not good enough handling; not good enough management; not good enough backroom teams; not good enough off-court counselling. And probably too much big-money and political interference. But the "good" news is that Saina and India are not alone in this; the same maladies plague some of the more traditional powerhouses as well. Only, some of them have the frontline depth to create a distraction.
Nice post. I think India should do a joint training session with say Indonesia, Malaysia etc to expose their players. Not sure if India can join the Axiata tournament, it was a breath of fresh air and I saw so many promising talents, especially on the Indonesia side.
Nice post. I think India should do a joint training session with say Indonesia, Malaysia etc to expose their players. Not sure if India can join the Axiata tournament, it was a breath of fresh air and I saw so many promising talents, especially on the Indonesia side. For me India and Thailand are the most improved in the past few years. Hope they become a powerhouse in badminton.
She can train with male players. I remember Camilla Martin once said she trained with male players to improve her game. If she can beat an average India male pro, she can definitely beat WYH and LXR easily.
This plight she is going through has been brought by no one but herself. It's obvious if you promised and talked too much but failed to deliver up to expectation, you are definitely drawing lots of flak for underperforming. How come other players who time from time again lost to the Chinese players or fail to even win a title hardly get criticised for their poor performance? Because they dont talk too much like her. I was quite disappointed by the way she described China as the powerhouse that always have linesmen to back them up at home, implying her loss in China was due to the fact China needs to cheat. It became worse when i read somewhere in the newspaper where she stated Li Xuerui was not a tough opponent to play against. Whether it has been a misinterpretation or mistranslation, one should have the decent level of rationale to watch and be mindful of the what are the correct words to be used to express your confidence or thoughts. Seems she will be demonised by quite a number of people for quite some time even if she managed to win the Olympics.
I consider her talks as sort of Badminton entertainment. Wouldn't it be boring, if there's nothing to talk about?
I doesn't remember her saying that li xuerui was an easy opponent...she just did not mention her name and stated that xin wang was a tough opponent in the semifinals.....she never said about li there...I have read many a times that she takes every opponent seriously and praises them...she only talks about chinese in her interviews because that's the only thing this nonsense media asks her again and again...Saina is a big star in India....just a state like Andhra Pradesh(a state in 28 states of this big country) has about 8 odd news channels...I wonder how many news channels and news paper reporters would be der in this entire country with almost every other state has der own language and news channels in their own language...almost every one would be questioning her...thats a massive task to handle.....
there you go from Times of India On the Chinese challenge, Saina said, "I am not worried about it. I know I should beat a few Chinese to win the title. I may face Xuerui in the quarters. She is not very tough to beat. In semis I would meet Wang Xin. It will be a tough contest. But I am not thinking that far and as always I will concentrate only on the first match I play," she said.
Agreed, but now the male players will find her not up to their standard. Typically when playing against a lower skilled player, people tend to play differently. In my case I tend to work on moving the player all around the court and try some shots I would normally never attempt, trick shots etc.
Man, can we move on, this issue has been milked dry. She probably talks crap or the press trying to spice up the story, either way lets take a proactive approach and advice what she should be saying.
There are a couple of short clips floating around on youtube showing her practising 3 on 1 with some young boys who apparently are just training at the academy. What struck me was that the entire practise gave the impression of no one really wanting to be there - neither the boys, nor Saina. And the routine itself did not look correct somehow, like no one had taken the trouble to show the boys the sequence. Of course I may be off the mark with my observations. But if I am right, then it only reinforces my belief that the coaching system, and the training system itself needs to be reviewed very urgently. Any academy where the national team members train must be operating with total commitment to a professional approach.
If you are right, this is very disturbing. The trainees will never reach their potential in this case. On a side note, I now see a new coach (Indonesian??) beside Gopichand on the coaches bench. You know anything about this?
I could find only 2 names, but I don't know anything beyond the names themselves Risqi Budi Raharjo, and Edwin Iriwan. Apparently, P V Sindhu trains under Iriwan.
Good to know that at least they are working on the coaches. Hope this translates to an improvement on the training system. Chinese/Korean coaches will be the best, maybe Li Ma (did I get the name right?) / Park Joo Bong?
The trouble here is that you are offering rational thoughts and observations. That presupposes that the people your content is aimed at, are rational, and sans agenda. Or that they are not prejudiced. Or that they are not nationalistic; or anti-nationalistic. Or manipulative. Or manipulated. Or guilty of the very acts they denounce so stridently or violently. Or opinionated bigots. Or simply confused children who have this need to be heard. I once walked into a lunatic asylum, looked around at the chaos. I was aghast. I shouted at them, "You are lunatics!!" It was like no one heard me. But someone had; the supervisor took me aside and said, "They are lunatics; that is why they are here. But what do you think you're doing?"
