Saina Nehwal Rises To World No. 2 In Rankings

NEW DELHI: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is just a step away from realising her goal of becoming the world’s numero uno player as she jumped one place to a career-best second in the latest international rankings.

“I am very happy to achieve the world number two so soon in my career. The last three wins have really helped me. It is a great feeling but I feel my priority still will be to win more tournaments for India rather than focussing on ranking,” Saina said.

“It will be difficult to hold on to the ranking but I hope to continue my hard work and win more titles and become the number one player soon,” said the Hyderabadi shuttler, who is down with fever and cold.

The 20-year-old Saina made a meteoric rise following her back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series, reaching the world number three last month.And after the Indian defended her Indonesian Open Super Series crown to complete her hat-trick of titles, it was just a matter of time that she jumped to the second place.

By virtue of the consecutive title wins, Saina now has 64791.2637 points and is just behind Chinese Yihan Wang, while Xin Wang of China is in the third place.Saina’s father Harvir Singh also expressed happiness and hoped her daughter can continue her good work for the country.”God has been kind. It is a marvellous achievement. I hope she can continue to work hard and win more laurels for the country,” Harvir Singh said.

In March, Saina had attained the fifth position after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the prestigious All England Super Series Championships.
However, she dropped to the sixth position in the subsequent weeks.Saina’s next engagement will be in the World badminton Championship in Paris next month, before playing the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

In the men’s ranking, the Indian trio of Chetan Anand, P Kashyap and Arvind Bhatt were at 15th, 25th and 27th spot respectively, while mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju were static at the seventh place.

She is just a step away from becoming the world number one but ace shuttler Saina Nehwal said she wants to win next month’s World Championship in Paris before attaining the numero uno status.  

Saina, who jumped one place to a career-best second in the latest international badminton rankings for women, said ranking is not her priority and she prefers to win more titles than chasing the number one status.  

“It is a dream come true. I never expected to reach number two so early. But before I achieve the number one status I want to become the World Champion,” said Saina, who is just 1200 points away from Chinese Yihan Wang. “The last three wins have really helped me. It is a great feeling but I feel my priority still will be to win more titles rather than focusing on ranking,” she added.  

The 20-year-old Indian made a meteoric rise following her back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series and claimed the world number three status last month.  

If that was not enough, she also defended her Indonesian Open Super Series crown to complete a hat-trick of titles and jumping to the second place in the rankings was just a matter of time.  

Saina, who now has 64791.2637 points, will be seen in action at the World badminton Championship in Paris next month and the Hyderabadi admits that her present status will add to her pressure in the event.  

“It is a very big ranking for me. There will be pressure on me being the number 2 but I don’t want to think about that. It will be a tough tournament and in a way its good that I achieved the ranking before the World Championship,” she said. “I am confident I can do well there. My strategy would be to work hard, train harder, stay fit and give my best,” Saina added. 

After the World Championship, Saina will carry India’s hopes in the Commonwealth Games and the shuttler said she will work on her fitness and strokes to be in her peak form in the October 3-14 event. 

“I am happy with my fitness but for the Commonwealth Games I will have to push my fitness further and work on my strokes. There is still time and all players have to be really fit to do well in the tournament,” she said. PTI