Ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal has fully recovered from her injury and is raring to go at the Uber Cup Finals starting in the Capital from Sunday. This time she will also be shouldering the added responsibility of captaining India’s women’s team in the prestigious biennial event. The Olympic bronze-medallist on Wednesday said that the onus would be on her to give the team a good start and get the momentum going by winning her first singles match. There will be three singles and two doubles during the tournament and while Saina will be playing the first singles, P V Sindhu will be competing in the second rubber. Excerpts.
On pressure of playing first singles
First singles makes a lot of difference. It will be crucial for the players ahead. If I could perform well in my opening singles match, it will boost the confidence of others also. Momentum is very important. Starting has to be good. If first singles does not go well then there is a lot of pressure on the shuttler playing the second singles. Hope we win my and Sindhu’s singles, as well as Jwala (Gutta) and Ashwini (Ponnappa) in doubles.
On the opponents
Against Hong Kong and Canada we are better and we can pull out the matches but against Thailand we have to be very careful and alert because all of them are very good. Their all three singles are very strong. Even their doubles is strong. But recently Jwala and Ashwini had beaten them at ABC (Asian Badminton Championships) so they would be having the upper hand at the moment. But singles is going to be difficult. Ratchanok (Intanon) is a good, strong player. Porntip (Buranaprasertsuk) is also a very strong competitor. Nichaon Jindapon might play the third singles. But then it’s a team competition and pressure will be on them as well. Whichever team will be able to handle pressure better will win. So, let’s see how it goes.
On the team
This time we have more confidence. We did not have such a strong team earlier. We never had more than one good player in singles. But right now, the whole team looks very, very strong. We have been training hard for the last one month. We did well at the ABC recently where Sindhu and women’s doubles pair of Jwala and Ashwini won bronze medals. Personally, I believe we have very good chances of making the quarterfinals.
On expectations from her
Expectations are always there when I am playing. Winning and losing is part of the game. My job is to keep working hard on the mistakes I make. Sometimes people only see wins, not the quarterfinal and semifinal performances. I know wins are important and can happen anytime but form is not permanent. Even top Chinese players go through ups and downs.
On playing in a team event
We hardly play together as a unit. One has to concentrate on winning her own match. My work is to win my singles match. As far as the others’ matches are concerned, it will be interesting for me also to watch how they are playing. But I will definitely be tensed.
On her fitness
I am fit and I hope to find my form soon. From 2006, I have been playing first singles in Uber Cup. I have done really well. I have always come out with good results and hopefully this time also get good results.
On the home advantage
It is both ways. Sometimes you are playing extremely well and everything falls in place, sometimes you just lose your focus. For me it is both ways. I won the Commonwealth Games here but I could not win India Open here, while I won it in lucknow.
On the IBl
IBl is something that has changed the Indian badminton. Players have got benefited. Badminton is so much more popular now.