Coming back from a surgery is never easy. More than the battle with fitness, it requires a lot of determination to push the setback behind and look ahead. Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal had shown it in droves when she returned to competition just three months after undergoing a knee surgery.
On her return, she reached the quarter-finals in two of the three tournaments that she played, giving ample glimpses of the fighter that she is known to be. Those performances were only after practising on court for just two weeks.
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There’s undoubtedly still a lot of room to improve and the 26-year-old has recently said that she hopes to be back to her best by the end of next month.
“I had undergone surgery three months back and in fitness, there is no miracle. So it will take a bit of time,” Nehwal said.
“But I am happy that I could reach the quarterfinals in two tournaments after coming back from rehab and just playing for two weeks on court. So I am happy with the results. I hope by January end I will be in best shape, so let’s hope for the best.”
With the season having ended, there is no major tournament in sight and it is thus the perfect time to focus on fitness. Nehwal echoed the same thoughts, adding that she will be playing the upcoming second season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), scheduled to begin on January 1.
“I will decide my tournaments according to my fitness level. There are no major tournaments now so I will only be looking after just my fitness level and I know results will be good. I will be playing PBL,” she said.
Saina also talked about her overall season which had mixed fortunes. Just when she was looking at her confident best by winning her second Australian Open title, injury struck her right before leaving for the Rio Olympic Games. It robbed her of a chance to emulate her bronze medal-winning feat at the London Olympics and the subsequent surgery kept her out of action for three months.
The experience had indeed taught her a lot, the former World No. 1 also admitted.
“It was a good year, but bad also. I had won the Australian Open and then I had to go for surgery. But this is something which happens to sports-persons. What happened was not in my hand. It is in the past. I learnt a lot of things from that, where I have to get stronger and I am feeling confident about.”
Nehwal also spoke highly about the progress of Indian badminton this year. It was not just PV Sindhu who kept Indian badminton in the spotlight by clinching the Rio Olympics silver medal, but the men’s singles players too were thriving throughout the season. Sameer Verma’s runner-up finish at the Hong Kong Open Superseries in November was the biggest highlight in the men’s section.
“I think Indian badminton all over is doing well. I think along with Sindhu, Sameer also reached the finals at Hong Kong Open and all of them are doing extremely well.”
The PBL2 will be employing a new scoring system of 11-point games in an attempt to make it faster and viewer-friendly. Asked about her comments on it, she said: “It is a new experiment and till I play I can’t comment on it. The 11-point system will be very quick as points are less. It will be interesting to see how it goes.”
