World Number 4 Saina Nehwal, who has held the Indian flag flying high, is pinning her hopes on the World Championships in London this year. She recently said that one of her top priorities in 2011 was the World Championships as it would be staged in the same stadium where the London Olympics would be held in 2012.
Saina would be making her first appearance this season in the Korean Super Series Open which kicks off on January 25. Owing to ankle injury, the Hyderabadi girl has pulled out of the $500,000 Super Series final, due to open in Chinese Taipei on January 6, and has also withdrawn from the Malaysian Super Series Open tournament that gets underway on January 18.
The World No 4 sustained the injury during Hong Kong Super Series final in December that also forced her to pull out from the $50,000 Indian Open. This is her third pull out in a row. Sources said that Saina had to pay a fine for the last minute pull out.
In a report in the media, Saina’s coach, Pullela Gopichand said that the star player was making rapid progress, but was not fit enough for such a big tournament. He hoped that she would recover soon.
However, Saina, who returned to training, said that there was no pain or any sort of discomfort while stretching for a shot. She said that till the first week of January, she was unable to bend properly while retrieving a low shot.
Welcoming the three-week break, Saina said that the year gone by was a tough one. In 2010, she played at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.