yup,but she has a tough draw ahead with mitani in next round and then tine in quarters and then yihan in semis...
She has never won against Yihan. But she defeated Li X. And Li X defeats Yihan these days. But Saina is not able to defeat Yihan. I think she will make into the semis. She seemed to be in good form today. Cant say whether she will get into the final though.
‘It’s important to popularize the game’- Saina Nehwal http://www.sportsnewsnow.co.uk/its-important-to-popularize-the-game-saina-nehwal/ Excerpts: Saina Nehwal’s first match after the Olympic bronze medal playoff turned out to be easier than expected. The Indian never looked troubled against world No.12 Bae Yeon Ju, who beat her the last time they met, at the India Open. Saina talks to Dev S Sukumar in Odense, Denmark: "As for my condition, I don’t feel 100 per cent because of (right) knee pain. It is normal pain that we players have. ...It was a good match, overall I got my confidence back, after two months of break … tomorrow again, against Japan, it will not be an easy one. I have to be strong, again the same way, lot of rallies, and I have to be alert. "...we play a sport that’s not as popular as cricket. So after the Olympics, we need to celebrate a bit. I know people will say, why do you do this and that, but it is important to popularize the game. Otherwise it will be the same, we will be struggling to win, but there will be nothing in the sport. "Has she? (Tine Baun retired) Oh… she was a great player. She beat me in the semifinals of the All England in 2010, and she was really strong that time. There will be a vacuum in Denmark. Juliane Schenk is the one European who’s strong. But Europe needs to improve a lot. There’s nobody from Denmark. Even in Germany, there’s no one after Schenk. It will be a lot of Asia versus Asia now."
Really you are great cobalt. Instead of reading newspapers, if we come across your scraps, its enough. Everything will be known. Thanks once again. HATS OFF TO YOU my friend.
You are welcome! There are many, many very enthusiastic people here on BC (this forum) who share information, ideas, plans, and most importantly, their knowledge with the entire community of badminton enthusiasts across the world. BC has made this possible. We get to learn a lot here, and not just about badminton; but about people, cultures, differences, and tolerance. Also about other sports, professions, how to stay fit and healthy and sooooo much more! So it's not hats off to me! It is hats off to the entire world community that inhabits BC, and that includes you, my friend!
Saina after beating Minatsu Mitani to reach the quarterfinals of the Denmark Open: "It seemed like an easy match, but it wasn't. There were a lot of long rallies, and a lot of running to do. Mitani is a good player."
Saina looked injured on the right knee. Very slow movements. If I were MM's coach, I will tell her to attack Saina's front right corner.
I see that in tournament software for SN vs MM's match stats show that SN scored 21 consecutive points in the first game. Can anyone confirm if its true? I have not see the match.
Yeah it sounds ridiculous but plausible. I checked the sources but none gave exact info of the first game. Even BC'ers followed the match from second game... http://tournamentsoftware.com/sport/match.aspx?id=C663F96C-BF88-4C6A-8CB6-92C0F567740C&match=129
It could be, but let's wait for some more sources... .. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/saina-nehwal-progresses-to-denmark-open-quarterfinals/301064-5-135.html Excerpt: The third-seeded Indian defeated the unseeded Japanese World No.28 21-15, 21-14 in 20 minutes. The scores, however, were no true reflection of the match-play. In the first game, Minatsu surprised Saina by clinching the first 15 points without losing her serve, going 15-0 up. In an amazing turnaround, the Hyderabadi fought back to win the next 21 points, 20 on her own serve, to take the game 21-15. The second game saw the scoreline behave in a regular manner. ...
No, the 21-point-in-a-row story is a myth! TS needs to correct the stats info & graph. Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PjkNlXrHf8E#t=399s Nice to see Gopi let Edwin take the lead in instructing Saina during the interval...
Livescoring didn't work in the first set, it was just blank. Probably the computer wasn't hooked up correctly on the chair ...
but of course there are some good run of points there.....saina was 10-6 at one point and she trailed 10-14 down at another point and she won 10 points and was 20-14 up at the next point....
I guess ibnlive also relies on Tournament Software.... pathetic... At least I have tried to verify the validity of the scoreline... Thanks for the video link Cobalt!
This is the reason why Indian Media is not a reliable source of information....I can only laugh at this ridiculousness.... They describe it as if they were present in the stadium and saw the whole match... http://www.indianexpress.com/news/twentyfive-points-on-the-trot-makes-quarter-for-saina/1018906/ "Denmark Open Super Series saw Saina Nehwal play one of the strangest matches of her career — one where she racked up 25 straight points against an opponent. Playing the diminutive Japanese Minatsu Mitani, Nehwal was 0-15 down in the opening set, but went on to claim it 21-15 and the next 21-14 to make the quarters of the Premier Super Series event at Odense."
Came across a nice article about how one dedicated person can make a difference..... http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/trX04CMjvQL0xzRv42a3QN/Courting-excellence.html Excerpts: Gopichand Badminton Academy, hallowed ground for shuttlers in the country. Of the 14 women’s and men’s singles players from India ranked in the world’s top 100, 11 come from this academy. “Gopi sir is here every day at 4.30 in the morning and he’s on court all day,” Nehwal says. “I’ve never seen him leave here before 7 in the evening. He’s so dedicated and driven that players automatically give everything for him.” ..... A month before the Olympics, Gopi Chand upped the training tempo for both Kashyap and Nehwal, introducing strategies that were designed to make them peak in London. “I did everything Gopi sir asked of me,” Kashyap says, “and immediately I felt the difference. In London, I knew that my game was better than ever before, and it showed in the result.” Every international player at the academy speaks of this faith they have in Gopi Chand’s methods. “It’s simple,” Nehwal says. “He believes in me, and I believe in him.” And that’s not just in training. Even during her matches, Nehwal says, when things start to move too fast for her to strategize effectively, she blindly follows the instructions Gopi Chand gives from the sidelines. ..... The academy, in many ways, is Gopi Chand’s way of making sure that India’s current and future generations of badminton players don’t face the same struggles he did as a player. “All my life, my fight was more in finding the right facilities than in playing opponents,” Gopi Chand, 38, says. “No electricity on court, or court is closed for no reason, there are no shuttlecocks, the coaches haven’t come, there’s no food. It was never about the game, it was just fundamental things.” Even though the academy as it stands now was only completed in 2008, Gopi Chand had started training players from 2005 in a makeshift facility. By 2008, he had 60 trainees. Two years later, with Nehwal breaking through on the international scene and rapidly rising to a career ranking high of world No. 2, the academy was flooded with young aspirants wanting to join. “We refuse 10 children a day,” Gopi Chand says. “Till two years ago, we used to make a waiting list, but then we stopped because there were more than 200 people on that list. The problem is not with the demand for the sport, but that there’s not enough infrastructure to cater to that demand.” The academy now has 150 trainees under 14 coaches. A simple statistic highlights the pre-eminence of the academy in Indian badminton—all five events (men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles) at the 76th Senior National Badminton Championships 2012 in January were won by players from Gopi Chand’s academy. Three of those finals were all-academy affairs. Sourabh Verma, who is ranked 40 in the world and is the 2012 national champion, calls Gopi Chand “omnipresent”. “He is at the academy before any player comes in,” says 20-year-old Verma, who joined in 2008 after winning the Junior National Championships. “He is always watching, always thinking about you and pushing you in the right direction.”