Will work very hard to become World No. 1, says Saina Nehwal

Hyderabad, Nov 25: Upbeat over winning the China Open badminton title and moving up to the fourth spot in the latest BWF rankings, star shuttler Saina Nehwal says she is working on becoming the best in the world.

"I am happy that, from world number nine to I reached world number four with three titles. Now, I am hoping to do well in the Dubai Super Series final next month," she told PTI here today.

Besides seeking more success on the tour, the Hyderabadi said is focussed on maintaining fitness in the run up to the 2016 Olympics. "It is very important to stay fit now as the Olympics are coming nearer. It will be more about remaining fit and playing the best against the top three Chinese players in the world. I will try to beat them as many times as possible or try to give them a very tough fight which is very important," she said.

She said she would work hard for achieving the number one position, but no time-frame can be put to it. "I will try my best. World Number One is a target obviously everyone wants to achieve. But it is not easy as the other Chinese are also strong.

"So, I would just keep working hard and you never know anything can happen. (I) reached world number four, so, hopefully, would like to win some more tournaments and would like to give my best. It is not going to be easy, but, I am going to work very hard for that," she said.

'Rectifying mistakes'

Ahead of the keenly-fought China Open, Saina worked on rectifying the loose-ends in her game, particularly on her movement on the court, in consultation with coach Vimal Kumar in Bangalore.

"The training I did before going to this tournament was right and according to what mistakes I was doing in the previous tournaments, so I was just rectifying those mistakes and finally it got right in the China Open. Because, I can see the improvement was happening from the Asian Games when I played Wang Yihan, when I played in the Denmark and French Open, I almost beat (a top player) in the third game, I was leading 15-6 and lost from there on.

"So, I was learning from those matches and finally, with the kind of training I was doing with Vimal sir and, strategy, we both were thinking what we should apply, in the practice."

PTI