‘Good to start from scratch’

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 27

Saina Nehwal believes that she stands a “fair chance” of winning the India Open Super Series title for the second time. While her impressive recovery from a knee injury has certainly boosted her confidence, it’s the “low expectations” of the home fans that would enable her to “play positively and freely”, Saina feels.

“Good that there is no expectation from me. I would play away from the limelight. It’s good to start from scratch,” Saina said on the eve of the qualifiers. The main draw matches will start on Wednesday.

Saina is looking to hit top form at the India Open, which will be her third tournament after her return from the four-month injury layoff. Saina won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold tournament in January this year and reached the quarterfinals of the All England Open.

“After I had the surgery, I realised how tough returning from it can be. You lose movements, touch; and to get back to your full fitness is extremely tough. It takes more time than usual, you can’t straightaway recover and win. It is not only physical but mental too. Even now there is always this tension and fear that I might pick up an injury again,” she said.

The world No. 8 will meet PV Sindhu in the quarterfinals if both manage to win their respective fixtures. “Of course the competition has become tougher at the India Open. So all I can say is I will give my best and hope to do well,” added Saina, who had won the title in 2015 to achieve the world No. 1 ranking.

Marin criticises BWF’s hectic calendar

Reigning Olympics champion Carolina Marin is striving hard to achieve 100 percent fitness following her lower-back injury, suffered before the Rio Olympics. Former world No. 1 Nehwal is on a comeback trail after undergoing a surgery for a career-threatening knee injury she had sustained in 2016. Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu has just recovered from a hamstring strain after overcoming a navicular stress fracture before the Rio Games.

Badminton is a very demanding sport. A top-level player has to travel around the world to compete in the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) ranking tournaments. China’s Lin Dan had once described badminton as a “very cruel” sport.

Today, it was Marin’s turn to criticise the BWF’s events calendar. The two-time world champion exhorted the administrators to “cut down” on the number of tournaments so as to prevent injuries.

“I never had breaks since I started competing because there were actually no long breaks (between tournaments),” Marin said.

“There are just too many events to compete in. The BWF needs to revisit its tournament calendar. They should think about it (cutting down on number of competitions),” she added. 

The 23-year-old Spaniard is in the national capital to participate in the 10th edition of the India Open, the country’s only Super Series event.

As per the 2017 competitions calendar, there are 11 BWF events, seven World Super Series, 14 Grand Prix Gold, five Grand Prix, 23 International Challenge, 39 International Series, 15 Future Series and six World Super Series Premier in a year — a total of 120 tournaments.

Marin said that if a player decided to skip a tournament, it would lead to a drop in his/her world rankings. “Once your ranking goes down, it’s difficult to climb up. Other players would overtake you. That’s why we need to continuously play in some kind of tournaments. And then injuries are bound to happen. The BWF must understand that we are also human,” she added.

Due to her recurring lower-back injury, Marin had to pull out before the final in the German Open Grand Prix in February this year. “I have a very strong personality. I don’t retire at any cost unless it becomes impossible for me to continue. At the All England Open, I played with the same injury. I felt the pain in the second game of the quarterfinal but I continued to play before losing the match. May be, I am 100 percent fit for the India Open,” she said.