Seven shuttlers [India’s largest badminton contingent for Olympic Games yet] are going to represent India in the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympics. Among the participants, Saina Nehwal is the brightest prospect to bring back a medal—hopefully the big gold. Nehwal is the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal. She is all geared to take part in her third Olympics this August.

Qualification

BWF world rankings are used to determine the Olympic qualifiers in each of the five categories [men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles] from the points accumulated in the period between May 4, 2015 and May 1, 2016. The 26-year-old ranked 8^th in the world by BWF and hence, gained qualification for the Rio Games.

Earning the spotlight

Saina Nehwal had a brilliant start to her career. In 2006, she became the under-19 national champion and created history by winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first such player. She stunned various top seeded players on course her victory at the Philippines Open 2006, a four star tournament. She became the first Indian woman and the youngest player from Asia to win the tournament.

An 18 year-old Saina became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals at the 2008 Olympic Games. She won her first BWF super series title in 2009, which was also the first by an Indian. She followed it up with a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the London Olympics.

Route to Rio

In April of 2015, she became the first Indian women’s player to be World’s No.1 in badminton. The shuttler also reached the final of the prestigious All England Open and World Badminton Championship, finishing runners-up to Carolina Marin (Current World No. 1) in both instances.

However, after the World Championships in August, Saina has not been in the best of health, with the Achilles injury disturbing her preparations for the Olympics as well. After dealing with injuries, she won her first title of 2016 at the Australian Super Series. Now, the shuttler is targeting for greater consistency.

‘Saina has a lot more variety now,’ former Men’s World No. 1 Prakash Padukone said in an interview. ‘She is much more confident and that has made a big difference’. The victory in Australia came at just the right time for Nehwal who was returning from an Achilles injury she sustained at the end of last year.

Medal Quest

The weight of the country lies on her shoulders, when it comes to representing the nation in the Olympics. Winning a gold medal is never going to be easy, with the number of top-flight shuttlers like Carolina Marin, Li Xuerui, Ratchanok Intanon, Nozomi Okuhara among others keen to deliver at the Olympic Games.  Nehwal currently sits at the sixth spot in the BWF World Rankings. After beating many of the players ranked higher than her in the Australian Open.

When on song, Saina can defeat any top shuttler in the world. But the same can be said for Marin, Xuerui, Intanon, Sung Ji, Tai Tzu and not to forget the impressive compatriot PV Sindhu who are all going to be serious contenders for the gold medal in Brazil. The shuttler, who remains consistent for a fortnight or so will walk away as the Rio Olympics gold medallist.