I will be World No. 1 again: Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal will not be participating in the upcoming Singapore Super Series

Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal has said that rankings matter very little to her and has expressed happiness at her consistency. The 25-year-old has had a fantastic run in 2015 so far, having reached the finals of the All England Championships, where she lost to Carlina Marin. Saina recently secured the India Open title, which saw he reach the world number 1 spot.

"Rankings hardly matter. What is important is I have been playing consistently. I want to keep it going. I got to the No. 1 spot after a lot of hard work and good performances on court. So, I don't want to be sitting and feeling bad thinking I am no longer World No. 1. Instead, I am happy that I am able to beat top class Chinese players. And if I keep playing well, it's possible that I will become No. 1 again,” Saina said in a chat with the Times of India.

“I am happy I reached No. 1 and in the future, I will be world No. 1 again,” she added.

Would have beaten Li had two calls not gone against me: Saina

After the high of reaching No.1 in the world, the shuttler had to experience disappointment after a week as she was knocked out in the semi-finals by Li Xueroi of China on Saturday, which also meant that she had to lose out on her top rank. Saina, though, revealed that had two critical decisions by the referee gone her way, the result might have been different.

"I was almost beating her. But two calls went against me in the last game. I would have defeated her if those calls were not taken. I was 19-18 up in the third game and my smash (which was called incorrect) was right, and I would have been 20-18. But the umpire overruled. And I couldn't do anything after the match was over and she was declared the winner," she said.

The Hyderabadi will miss the Singapore Open, slated to begin on Thursday.