Hyderabad: Shuttler Saina Nehwal said here Thursday that winning the bronze medal in the World Championships at Glasgow was special as it came after her recovery from a career-threatening knee injury.
“It is wonderful to win a medal. It (winning a medal) becomes prestigious in World Championships or Olympics. I am lucky to have won a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2017,” Saina told this agency. “I liked the medal (more) as it came after I met with a career-threatening injury,” added the 27-year-old, who had to undergo a knee surgery after crashing out of the Rio Olympics with an injury.
Recalling the strenuous process of recovery post the surgery, Saina said she could get back into international badminton due to the support of her physios and coach Vimal Kumar.
“(In September last year) after major ortho surgery for a week, physios Chandan Poddar and Arvind Nigam helped me; then my coach Vimal sir helped me slowly to come to the position where I am today,” Saina informed.
Despite not being fully fit, Saina tried to defend her title at China Open but she lost in the first round in November.
“It was a heart-breaking loss, but soon I recovered well and played Macau Open and Hong Kong Open a week later and reached the quarterfinals of both the tournaments,” she stated.
“I won Malaysia Open Gold and reached the quarterfinals at India Open, Indonesia Open and Australia Open and now this medal in World Championship, it is quite satisfying,” added the shuttler.
Saina said she was confident of winning a medal at Glasgow as she had better records against World No.3 Sung Ji Hyun, Scotland’s Kristy Gilmour and Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
The Indian blamed the scheduling of the matches for her loss against Okuhara in the semifinals.
“I was sure of winning against her (Okuhara) but I lost in three sets because of less rest between two matches. Still I am happy that I won a medal,” Saina pointed out. “My semifinal should not have been scheduled in the afternoon after a late evening match the previous day,” she added.
As of now, Saina will take some well-earned rest, skip the Korea Open before playing in the Japan Open.
press trust of india