With the Asian Games set to begin, India will once again pin its hopes on badminton, a sport that has been throwing up stars right and left. Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, now one of the veterans in the team, is confident of a good show by the Indians at the 18th edition of the Games in Jakarta. After her relatively early exit in the recent BWF World Championships (she lost to Carolina Marin in the quarterfinals), Saina would be looking to make amends. But, with the Indian women playing Japan up front, Saina and company will have to play out of their skins to advance. A few days before leaving for Jakarta, Saina spoke to THE WEEK, in an email interview, about India’s chances. Excerpts:
How are preparations going?
As you know, most of us played the Malaysia Open, followed by the Thailand Open, Singapore Open and the World Championships. So, we have been very active and have prepared well for the Asian Games.
Who will be your toughest opponent? Were you disappointed by your performance at the recent World Championships?
As the competition at the Asian Games is like that at the World Championships, nothing can be said in advance about the opponents. Our past performances against them (leading opponents) has been very encouraging.
There are a lot of youngsters this time. Do you think the duo of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has a chance at a medal?
They have been trained very nicely and have world-class ability. I would like to wish them all the best for a medal.
What are your predictions? Will India get an individual medal?
We will certainly do better than the previous Asian Games.
What do you think of the Japanese women, especially Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi?
Those two are doing well, and I wish them all the best, too.