London Olympics badminton: Saina Nehwal wins bronze

London: India's Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal in badminton singles at the London Olympics 2012 after she was declared winner in the play-off match as her Chinese opponent Wang Xin retired hurt.

Wang won the first game despite the injury she suffered at the end of the first game. She came back in the second game to win a point but the injury haunted again before finally pulling out of the match.

Saina Nehwal vs Wang Xin: As it happened...

SAINA NEHWAL DECLARED WINNER

Wang Xin is still struggling from the cramps she nurtured in the first game.

Saina Nehwal lost the first game against Wang Xin 18-21 in the bronze medal match.

Great comeback. Wang finishes the game. 21-18

Looks like the Chinese world no 2 is suffering from a cramp. Match interrupted.

Saina saves another two gamepoints. 18-20

Saina with another drop. 16-20

Saina saves a gamepoint with a good drop shot. 15-20

Gamepoint for Wang.

Good comeback by Wang. 19-13

Long rally. Too deep but just in. Saina earns point. 13-18

Just in. Wang tried a high clear. Saina read well to leave it. Earned Point. 12-17

Unforced error from Saina again. 17-10

A good drive from Saina. Earns point. 10-15

Clever drop by Saina after to break a long rally. 9-15

Wang surprises Saina with a flick. Good wrist play. 15-8

Good net shot. Saina gains point. 7-14

Just wide. Error in judgement again by Saina. 12-6

Passing shot form Wang. Wang leads. 11-6

Error in judgement from Saina. 8-6

Wang failed to clear the net. 6-6

Saina on backfoot. 5 all.

Clever play from Wang.Hits it deep. Earns point. 4-5

Tried for a drop. Point for Wang. 2-4

Long rally. Point for Saina 3-0

Saina gets another point. 2-0

Saina wins point after a long rally. 1-0

The match is underway.


Saina Nehwal vs Wang Xin bronze medal match begins in a short while.

Saina’s record against the Chinese read 2-4 who lost her semifinal match against compatriot Li Xuerui.

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Saina Nehwal sails through to the semi-final

Saina Nehwal sails through to the semi-final beating Tine Baun 21-15, 22-20.

Saina takes the advantage and match point for Saina.

Baun's smash is wide and it is deuce.

Saina saves the second game point, as she hits the shuttle just millimetres inside the baseline.

Game point for the Dane.

Another long rally, Saina goes deep and hits the net. 19-17.

Whatay smash by Saina. 17-18 for the Indian.

Long rally, Saina gets the point. 16-18.

Powerful smash by Baun. 18-15.

Baun leads 16-15 as she fetches a point with a precision push.

Saina hits the net, 15 all.

Cross Court placement by Baun. 13-14.

Error by the Dane, long shot. 12-14.

Saina hits it wide. 13-12.

Saina hits it long. 13-11.

Saina leads by 11-10 going into the break.

Saina draws level. 10-10.

Saina gets a point near the net. 9-10.

Baun is on a roll in this Game after conceding many free points in the first.

Strong smash Baun. Dane leads 9-7.

Saina hits a straight smash.

Good judgment by Saina as Baun hits it long, but only just.

Baun hits the backhand straight, Saina misses. 7-4 to the Dane.

Another long shot by Baun. 4-4.

Saina leaves and the shot is long from Baun.

Baun tried a drop but the shuttle hits the nets.

Another unforced error by Baun 1-2.

Second game is underway now.

Saina scored 10 points without service and 11 points with service.

GAME 1: Nehwal 21 : 15 Baun

Saina takes the first set 21-15 with a strong smash.

3rd Game point saved by Baun. 20-15

Game point for Saina.

Baun hits the net again. 19-11.

Two quick points for Baun. 11-17.

Long rally and Saina gets the point, shuttle lands just inside the baseline. 17-9

Baun with an error again 8-15.

Good return by Baun and Saina was not quick with the turn.

Baun with a powerful cross court smash gets a point 7-10

Another error by the Indian, quick points for the Dane.

Saina hits it long.

Error from the Danish again, hits it wide.

Another powerful smash by Saina.

Precision smash by Saina after a long rally.

The match his underway.

After a long delay the match between Saina and Baun will start shortly.

Live updates from the quarter-final match between No.4 seed Saina Nehwal and No.5 seed Tine Baun of Denmark.

Due to another match at Court 2, Wembley Arena the Saina Nehwal game has been delayed for more than an hour now.

The match has now ended and Saina will be up next.

Keep watching this space for the live update.

Past Results for Nehwal

R16 NEHWAL S 21:14, 21:16 YAO J

GP NEHWAL S 21:4, 21:14 TAN L

GP NEHWAL S 21:9, 21:4 JAQUET S

Not so good news from the Boxing Arena as Jai Bhagwan crashed out of the Olympics.

The game has been delayed a bit.

The match was scheduled to start at 14:02 BST and 6:32 pm India time

No.4 seed Saina Nehwal and No.5 seed Tine Baun of Denmark in the quarterfinal of women’s singles event.

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Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa keep India’s hopes alive in Women’s Doubles event of London Olympics

Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa keep India’s hopes alive in Women’s Doubles event of London Olympics

India’s Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa finally found their lost rhythm and claimed first win in London Olympics at Wembley Arena on Monday, July 30, 2012.

They trounced higher ranked Women’s Doubles pair Cheng Wen Hsing-Chien Yu Chin to stay in the race of glory.

This hard fought battle prolonged to three gruelling sets before ending with final figures of 25-23, 16-21 and 21-18.

World Number 20 duo Jwala-Ashwini defied all odds and locked the honour by prevailing in opening and closing segments of the tussle.

On the other hand, the World Number ten pair put a below par performance and surrendered tamely.
The opening game set the overall pace of match as both teams strived hard to push the opponent on the back-foot by pocketing vital match point.

They remained toe-to-toe all the way to game point situation as none of them could gain a permanent lead throughout this crucial set.

In first half, both contenders snapped each other’s heels and stayed close until the announcement of mid-game break.

Later part of the game started with lot of fireworks as the twosome of Jwala-Ashwini were enjoying an upper hand at one stage but then Taipei shuttlers tipped the scale in their favour in the third quarter.

The game kept swinging between them until the Indian campaigners finished this nerve-racking tussle with a tight yet decisive margin of 25-23.

Next game added more thrill in the contest as Wen Hsing-Yu Chin stormed back with a strong reply and won this crucial set.

This time they played with great precision and established an irrefutable lead straight away in the beginning. They maintained the upper hand throughout the second game.

They cornered their challengers with an indomitable figure of 11 and then magnified the impact after the interval by registering 21-16 score on the board.

The decider became consequential with this revised status and both teams put all in their possession to oust the opponent in the third and final set.

They made the crowd gasp with their breath-taking performance and earned great deal of admiration.
However, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair Jwala-Ashwini displayed superior finishing skills and sealed the victory with final result of 21-18

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Olympic tennis: Tricky draw for Paes-Sania

London, July 31 — India's Leander Paes and Sania Mirza Tuesday were drawn against Serbian team of Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic in the first round of the mixed doubles tennis competition at the London Olympics.

The Indian team will have their work cut out when they take on Ivanovic, former women's singles world no.1 and Zimonjic, who has won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and three men's doubles titles. Zimonjic is also a former doubles partner of Paes.

Sania, who has been more prolific with Mahesh Bhupathi winning the 2009 Australian and 2012 French Open titles, was paired with Paes after much controversy in the Indian tennis circuit.

Paes has also paired up with young Vishnu Vardhan in the men's doubles but their match against Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the second round was postponed.

Sania and her partner Rushmi Chakravarthi have been knocked of the women's doubles in the first round.

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Narang Wins India’s First Medal of London 2012

Ace marksman Gagan Narang today opened India's account in the London Olympic Games by clinching the bronze medal in the men's 10m air rifle event here.

Narang shot 103.1 in a gripping ten-shot finals for an aggregate of 701.1 after scoring 598 in the qualifying round in which also he stood third.

The gold was won by Romania's Moldoveanu Alin George who tallied 702.1, that included 103.1 in the final, to upset world number 1 Niccolo Campriani of Italy who stood second with 701.5 at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

After a good start when he shot 10.7, Narang was off target with his second shot that fetched him 9.7. But he gathered his wits and steadied his aim to collect 10.6 10.7 10.4 and 10.6 in the following four shots to at one stage remain on course for bagging even a silver.

However, he slipped a bit and had to fight for the bronze medal with China's Wang Tao who finished fourth with 700.4.

After returning poor scores of 9.9 and 9.5 in the seventh and eighth attempts, Narang pulled up his socks to seal the bronze with impressive scores of 10.3 and 10.7.

Narang's compatriot and defending champion Abhinav Bindra had, however, suffered a shocking exit with his dismal show in the preliminaries in which he stood 16th out of 47 contestants with a score of 594 out of 600.

Narang's bronze medal is only the third in shooting on the planet's biggest sporting event after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's silver in double trap in Athens 2004 and Bindra's gold in the last Games at Beijing.

This was also India's eighth individual medal in the Olympic Games.

With Alin George and Campriani able to maintain their grip on the top two positions, the competition for the bronze medal had boiled down to a tense contest between the Indian and his Chinese rival over the last few shots in which Narang prevailed.

There was stage when Campriani's poor efforts of 9.9 and 9.4 in the eighth and the penultimate series gave Narang a whiff of chance of winning the silver, but the Italian fired a 10.4 in his last shot to dash the Indian's hope of finishing second.

Earlier, Narang had kept alive India's hopes by advancing to the medal round after Bindra crashed out.
Bindra, who scripted history four years ago by becoming the country's first-ever individual gold medallist in the Olympics, shot 594 out of 600 to finish a shocking 16th out of 47 competitors and lost the golden chance of becoming the world's first shooter to win two successive gold medals at the mega event.

However, Narang kept India in the hunt by finishing third with 598, a point behind Campriani and Alin George who both shot an Olympic record-equalling 599 to stand first and second in the qualifying round.
Narang was bang on target from the beginning, scoring two successive 100s, but a 98 in the third series somewhat let him down.

The 29-year-old Hyderabadi, however, kept his cool and fought his way back into the reckoning for the medal round with a perfect 100 in the fourth series and then clinched the spot as the third best performer by notching two more 100s in his last two rounds.

Narang, a two-time world record setter, had won four gold medals in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and followed that up with two two silver in the Guangzhou Asian Games a month later.

He had also won four yellow metals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Bindra, on the other hand, started with two 99s in the first two series before coming back strongly by getting two perfect 10s for consecutive 100s in the third and fourth rounds.

The two 100s gave Bindra the lift and the belief he badly needed after dropping a point each in the first two sets.

However, a 99 in the fifth and an even poorer outing in the last series where he could score just 97, dashed Bindra's chances of earning a berth in the eight-man finals.

This was the only event the 29-year-old Bindra from Chandigarh was taking part in, thereby cutting short his campaign in the ongoing Games.

Narang will be competing in two more events at the Games.

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Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponappa register 1st win; stay in QF contention

London: Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa beat Wen Hsing Cheng and Yu Chin Chien of Chinese Taipei 25-23, 16-21, 21-18 to register their first win in the group stages. The win meant they stay in the contention for qualifying for the quarter-finals.

It took 55 minutes for the Indian pair to beat their much stronger opponents.

Despite winning the first game in tie-breaker, the Indian doubles team lost the 2nd game. But they fought back in the 3rd game to win the match.

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London Dreams – India’s Medal Hopes

SportsKeeda: The biggest sporting event in the world is just round the corner. Starting today, for a fortnight we will be witnessing a sporting spectacle. Though London Olympics 2012 have been facing a certain issues like security personnel shortage, strikes in last few days, I hope it does not take the shine off what is considered to be, by many, as the sporting pinnacle.

Sadly, ever since it participated for the first time in 1900, India’s performance have been woeful at the Olympics. We have won just 20 medals, most of which have come in field hockey. Not taking into account Norman Pritchard, whose nationality is still in doubt. India won its first individual Olympic medal in 1952. To put things into perspective, even a small country like Kenya won 24 medals in the last games itself.

Nevertheless, Beijing 2008 was the most successful games for India, with Abhinav Bindra winning the first individual Olympic gold for the country. Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar won bronze medals in boxing and wrestling respectively to take the individual medals tally to 3. This time round, India has sent a strong 142 men and women contingent for the games. We can hope to at least better the performance of last time.
Here’s taking a look at the medal contenders-

Sania-Leander (tennis)- Despite the fracas surrounding the team selection by AITA, these two remain our best hopes for a medal in tennis. Both of them have been in fine form with Sania winning the French open and Paes reaching the finals of Wimbledon mixed doubles, though with different partners. If these two can put their issues aside, they have a decent shot at winning a medal.

Vijender Singh (boxing)- Since winning the bronze medal during the last games, Vijender has enjoyed a topsy-turvy ride. He became No.1 in the 75 kg category, but could manage just bronze in Commonwealth games, 2010. Since then, a spate of injuries and poor performances have seen his rankings plummet. But on his day, he is very good and will be looking to replicate his 2008 success.

Saina Nehwal (badminton) - Ranked no. 5 in the world, Saina Nehwal is a genuine medal hope for India. That she is considered the most threatening opponent by the Chinese, speaks about her ability. She is peaking at the right time, having won back to back titles in Thailand and Indonesia. With the draw favoring, Saina can create history in badminton at the Games.

MC Mary Kom (boxing) - Thanks to the inclusion of womens boxing in London 2012, the five time world champion finally gets a chance to realize her dream of winning a medal for India at the games. Going by her track record in world championships (5 golds,1 silver in 6 appearances), it will be surprising if she fails to win a medal.

Deepika Kumari (archery) - The young girl from Jharkhand has taken the world by storm and has risen to No.1 ranking in individual recurve category. She won the gold in both individual and team event in the Commonwealth games. She has been performing consistently and the medal is for her to lose in this event.

Sushil Kumar (wrestling) - Beijing games bronze medalist, Sushil Kumar looks like a fine bet to win a medal this time round also. He has since won the gold at the Commonwealth games. Being India’s flag bearer for the Games is surely going to be huge motivation for him. His experience and never say die spirit can spur him to another medal.

Ronjan Sondhi (shooting) - After the bitter disappointment of the 2008 Games, the current world record holder in double trap is again among India’s leading medal hopes. His consistent display over the last 3 years have seen him ranked second in ISSF super 25 list. If he performs to his potentials, the shooter will definitely make the country proud.

Other notable contenders-
1. Bopanna-Bhupati(tennis)
2.Yogeshwar Dutt(wrestling)
3. Jai Bhagwan(boxing)
4.Vikas Gowda,Krishna Poonia(athletics)
5. Abhinav Bindra,Gagan Narang,Manavjeet Sandhu(shooting)
6. Mens hockey
7. Men/Women recurve team(archery)

Besides, some unknown face may rise from the dark and become an overnight hero. This time, there are lot of expectations from this Olympics and every chance that the athlete may live up to them and make it India’s best Olympics ever.

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2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team

India will be participating in the 2012 London Olympics scheduled to start on the 27^th July 2012 and end on the 12^th August 2012. Known as 2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team or in short Indian Olympics Team, the team has already made public the names of the participants.

So far, 2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics team has selected 84 participants who will compete in 57 events in 13 of the 2012 London Olympics Sports 2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team has selected 61 Men and 23 Women. Among the 2012 London Olympics sports India Olympics Team will be participating are Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Hockey, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

India first participated in the Olympics Games in the second Olympics of the year 1900. India Olympics team of the 1900 Olympics was represented by Norman Pritchard who participated in athletics events but he did not manage to get any medal. India would miss the 1904, 1908 and 1912 Olympics games. The 1920 Olympics Games saw India come back to Olympics Games and had been participating since then.

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, India was ranked 50^th with one gold medal and 2 bronze medals. The Indian Team 2008 Olympics only gold medal for India was won by Abhinav Bindra in Shooting for Men's 10 m air rifle while the two bronze medals were won by Sushil Kumar in Wrestling for Men's freestyle 66 kg and Vijender Kumar in Boxing Middleweight 75 kg.

Below are tables with the names of the 2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team competitors.

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Archery List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Archery	Individual and Team	MALE	Jayanta Talukdar
Archery	Individual and Team	MALE	Rahul Banerjee
Archery	Individual and Team	MALE	Tarundeep Rai
Archery	Individual and Team	FEMALE	Laishram Bombayla Devi
Archery	Individual and Team	FEMALE	Deepika Kumari
Archery	Individual and Team	FEMALE	Chekrovolu Swuro

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Athletics List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
	Track Events
Athletics	50 km walk	MALE	Basanta Bahadur Rana
Athletics	20 km walk	MALE	Baljinder Singh
Athletics	20 km walk	MALE	Gurmeet Singh
Athletics	20 km walk	MALE	Irfan Kolothum Thodi
Athletics	Marathon	MALE	Ram Singh Yadav
Athletics	800 m	FEMALE	Tintu Luka
Athletics	3000 m steeplechase	FEMALE	Sudha Singh
	Field Events
Athletics	Discus throw	MALE	Vikas Gowda
Athletics	Shot put	MALE	Om Prakash Karhana
Athletics	Triple jump	MALE	Renjith Maheshwary
Athletics	Discus throw	FEMALE	Seema Antil
Athletics	Triple jump	FEMALE	Mayookha Johny
Athletics	Discus throw	FEMALE	Krishna Poonia

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Badminton List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Badminton	Singles	MALE	Parupalli Kashyap
Badminton	Singles	FEMALE	Saina Nehwal
Badminton	Doubles and Mixed Double	FEMALE	Jwala Gutta
Badminton	Doubles	FEMALE	Ashwini Ponnappa
Badminton	Mixed Doubles	MALE	Valiyaveetil Diju

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Boxing List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Boxing	Light flyweight(49kg)	MALE	Devendro Singh
Boxing	Bantamweight(56kg)	MALE	Shiva Thapa
Boxing	Lightweight(60kg)	MALE	Jai Bhagwan
Boxing	Light welterweight(64kg)	MALE	Manoj Kumar
Boxing	Welterweight(69kg)	MALE	Vikas Krishan Yadav
Boxing	Middleweight(75kg)	MALE	Vijender Singh
Boxing	Light heavyweight(81kg)	MALE	Sumit Sangwan
Boxing	Flyweight(51kg)	FEMALE	Mary Kom

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Field Hockey Men List

2012 LONDON OLYMPICS MEN HOCKEY TEAM
Bharat Chettri (C, GK)
Sardar Singh (VC)
P. R. Sreejesh (GK)
Sandeep Singh
V. R. Raghunath
Ignace Tirkey
Manpreet Singh
Birendra Lakra
Gurbaj Singh
Sowmarpet Sunil
Danish Mujtaba
Shivendra Singh
Tushar Khandker
Gurwinder Singh Chandi
Dharamvir Singh
S. K. Uthappa
2012 LONDON MEN HOCKEY RESERVE
Sarvanjit Singh
Kothajit Singh

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Judo and Rowing List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Judo	63 kg	FEMALE	Garima Chaudhary
Rowing	Single sculls	MALE	Swarn Singh Virk
Rowing	Lightweight double sculls	MALE	Sandeep Kumar
Rowing	Lightweight double sculls	MALE	Manjeet Singh

2012 London Olympics Indian Team - Shooting Participants

The 2012 London Olympics Indian Team competitors for the shooting sport are optimistic in winning medals. Key participants in the shooting sport are Gagan Narang, and ace shooter who have won gold medals in last Commonwealth games held in India. In the 2012 London Olympics, Gagan will be participating in the following events, 10m air rifle and 50m Riffle 3 Positions. In the 2012 London Olympics Indian Team, Gagan will be participating together with Vijay Kumar, who also is a 2010 Commonwealth games gold medalist.

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Shooting List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Shooting	10 m air rifle	MALE	Abhinav Bindra
Shooting	50 m rifle prone	MALE	Joydeep Karmakar
Shooting	25 m rapid fire pistol	MALE	Vijay Kumar
Shooting	10 m air rifle	MALE	Gagan Narang
Shooting	50 m rifle 3 positions	MALE	Sanjeev Rajput
Shooting	Trap	MALE	Manavjit Singh Sandhu
Shooting	Double trap	MALE	Ronjan Sodhi
Shooting	Trap	FEMALE	Shagun Chowdhary
Shooting	25 m pistol	FEMALE	Rahi Sarnobat
Shooting	25 m pistol	FEMALE	Heena Sidhu
Shooting	10 m air pistol	FEMALE	Annuraj Singh

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Swimming List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Swimming	100 m and 200m Breaststroke	MALE	Aaron D'Souza
Swimming	100 m freestyle	MALE	Virdhawal Khade
Swimming	1500 m freestyle	MALE	Saurabh Sangvekar
Swimming	100 m and 200m Breaststroke	MALE	Sandeep Sejwal

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Tennis and Table Tennis List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Table Tennis
Table Tennis	Singles	MALE	Soumyajit Ghosh
Table Tennis	Singles	FEMALE	Ankita Das
Tenis
Tennis	Doubles	MALE	Leander Paes
Tennis	Doubles	MALE	Vishnu Vardhan
Tennis	Doubles	MALE	Mahesh Bhupathi
Tennis	Doubles	MALE	Rohan Bopanna

2012 London Olympics Indian Olympics Team- Weightlifting and Wrestling List

SPORT	EVENT	GENDER	NAME
Weightlifting
Weightlifting	69 kg	MALE	Katulu Ravi Kumar
Weightlifting	48 kg	FEMALE	Ngangbam Soniya Chanu
Wrestling
Wrestling	Freestyle 74 kg	MALE	Narsingh Pancham Yadav
Wrestling	Freestyle 55 kg	MALE	Amit Kumar
Wrestling	Freestyle 60 kg	MALE	Yogeshwar Dutt
Wrestling	Freestyle 66 kg	MALE	Sushil Kumar
Wrestling	Freestyle 55 kg	FEMALE	Geeta Phogat

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Sunil Chhetri to play for Portuguese club

Indian football captain and ace Indian striker Sunil Chhetri has been roped in by top Portuguese club Sporting Clube de Portugal. Chhetri, 27, will play for the club's reserve team.

At a press conference here where the news was confirmed, Chhetri, who was accompanied by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel, said he was happy to have got a once-in-a-life-opportunity to play for a club in Portugal, one of the top football-playing nation in the world.

"The nation where I play football is ranked 165th and I am going to play in a country which is fifth in the world. The club I am going to play for is one of the best in the world," Chhetri said.

Chhetri said he would work very hard during his stint with Sporting and make the experience count in the future.

"I will make sure that when I turn 40, I wouldn't say that I could have done better. I will give my best," said Chhetri, who had played for Mohun Bagan in the 2011-12 season.

Earlier, Sporting had issued a press release on their website confirming the deal.

 

"Sporting Clube de Portugal has officially opened its doors to the Indian market," the club said in its release.

Sporting eyes to gain ground in one of FIFA's most highly regarded markets and has welcomed Indian national team captain, Sunil Chhetri, to join the club's reserve side, the press release added.

Chhetri has reportedly signed a two-year deal with Sporting, which had players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani in its ranks in the past. This will be the Delhi boy's second stint with a foreign soccer side after his contract with Kansas City Wizards, a team in the Major League Soccer in the USA, in March 2010. He, however, did not make any appearance in the league matches during the season.

Chhetri had also undergone trials for European sides like Coventry City and Glasgow Rangers without much success. His move to the Queens Park Rangers did not click after he failed to collect a work permit.

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Saina Nehwal triumphs in Thailand Open

World number five and top-seed Saina Nehwal won her second title of the year when she beat Thailand’s world number 11 Ratchanok Inthanon 19-21 21-15 21-10 in Bangkok on Sunday.

In doing so, she posted her third win in four meetings against the second-seeded Thai, the match lasting 65 minutes. It was not an easy final as she took some time to settle down before coming into her own, playing rallies, and foxing her opponent through deft net play.

“It was a big tournament, very tough, and I played with most of the top players. The final was very intense because Inthanon is world No 11 and one of the good youngsters who is playing well against all the tough players,” the elated 22-year-old told DNA from Bangkok.

Nehwal, whose first title in the year came at the Swiss Open in March, said it was a competitive tournament despite the absence of leading Chinese players. “There were three to four Chinese players, but they were not their top shuttlers. The competition is very severe at every level nowadays as everyone is playing well.”
Nehwal admitted she was under pressure in the final: “It (pressure) happens once you start playing with someone who is a local player and has a big crowd support. There was a little bit of problem at the start. She started off really well.”

The win should be a morale booster ahead of the Olympics. Nehwal, however, isn’t thinking much about the quadrennial event.

“I can’t say now what I can do at the Olympics. There is still a lot of time. I have to train very hard for that. Olympics is not an easy tournament, the competition is extremely high. People expect a great deal from me. I just expect hard work from myself,” she said.

Now, she’s wiser and far more experienced than the Nehwal of Beijing 2008. Back then, she was just 18 and exited in the quarters.

“From then, till now, I have won many tournaments and beaten quite a few top players. You never know if you can win the Olympics, be it as a junior or as an experienced player. Last time, when I was 18, I beat world No 5 (Wang Chen) in the pre-quarterfinals. Even experienced players lose at times. It’s how you play on that particular day.”

Asked if she could treat the Olympics as any other Super Series as advised by former great Prakash Padukone, Nehwal said, “It is sir’s point of view. He has played so much, he also knows about it. I’ve always approached every tournament in the same way. When the competition is very high in big tournaments, we are under pressure. There is tension. I think I should relax myself more in bigger tournaments. Maybe, he is right, I should treat the Olympics like any other tournament.”
Her immediate goal, though, is to do well in the Djarum Indonesia Open Super Series Premium starting Tuesday. “That is a bigger tournament with tougher competition as the top Chinese players will be there. I have to be alert and aggressive. It is only after the first round will I know how I am doing there.”

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