Saina's Olympic dream needs a new theme

We’re almost ten months into the year 2011. Until now, Saina Nehwal has participated in about 11-12 tournaments this year. With a current world ranking of 4 and the Swiss Open title under her belt, her performance this year has been commendable. Last year was fantastic for Saina. She won three back to back titles in June with the Indian, Indonesian and Singapore Open Super Series titles. The win at the Hong Kong Open Super Series coupled with the Indian Open Commonwealth Games gold made 2010 a year to remember. No doubt that performance was going to be hard to replicate. Yet a Swiss Open title this year and maintaining her ranking amongst the top 5 in the world is no mean feat. What I found a little concerning though were her losses. Going by the record, she has lost to about 9 different opponents this year — of which only 3 were Chinese. The Chinese are known to be formidable and losing to them is understandable, but the losses to the other six lesser known and ranked opponents and those that she has beaten in the past needs to be analysed. [caption id=“attachment_114564” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Last year was fantastic for Saina. She won three back to back titles in June with the Indian, Indonesian and Singapore Open Super Series titles.  AFP”]  [/caption] In my opinion there are a few things that could explain this. At the outset I must mention that in this new scoring pattern of 21 points, the results this game has been throwing up have been very unpredictable. Therefore, a player playing even a single notch below par is likely to be punished. This year Saina has been injury prone. There was the ankle injury at the beginning of the year followed by the freak injury in June when she tripped while running on the treadmill and bruised her knees. The rumoured misunderstanding with her coach Gopichand I’m sure upset her rhythm. All the misfortunes apart, I think what Saina needs to do now is to rethink her game and strategy. Losing to so many different opponents is an indication that perhaps the opponents have your game figured out. This is the most dangerous thing to happen to a player. Knowing Saina, she is most likely already working hard in addressing this issue. Based on my experience, I too would be doing the same — keeping the larger picture in mind. The London Olympic Games are scheduled in July-August next year. For me, the ultimate goal would be to get a medal there. The tournaments one plays now are just stepping stones to reach that pinnacle. In Saina’s case, I would hope that she performs well enough in these tournaments so that she can maintain her ranking in the top 4 which would earn her a favourable draw at the Olympic Games. At present, the top 4 comprises of 3 Chinese and Saina so with a top 4 place she will avoid playing them before the semi-final stage. To secure a medal at the Olympics one needs to have a laser sharp focus and the losses in the Super Series events should not disrupt that focus. I would take the lessons learned from those losses and rectify the errors in time so that by the time the Olympics are at hand, I would have fine-tuned my game. The tournaments in the coming nine months could be used as test events to experiment and gauge my form. Putting in complete energy to win these tournaments at this stage would not be the ploy as you have your sights set on bigger things — an Olympic gold. Having said this, I would look to protect my form — mentally and physically. Selecting the right tournaments to play would be vital. Having a solid plan and being in control of the proceedings would provide comfort and confidence. I would be careful not to get injured or burned out and block out any distractions and negatives. During this nine month period before the Olympics, I would have liked to add something new to my game — something unexpected. The surprise element can throw the strongest of opponents off guard. That would enable me to cough up an ace at a time when I need it most. So the aces would have to be developed. Knowing Saina and her coach P Gopichand, I know for a fact that they are working together — intelligently — with a lone focus of earning India its first Olympic medal in badminton. They would like Saina to peak at the right time. After all the Olympic Games comes once in 4 years and their goal of gold is etched in stone. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, after Gopichand lost in the pre-quarters he was really dejected. He confided in me that an Olympic medal was really important to him. He said, “I don’t know if I shall be able to compete in the next Olympics but I would like to coach someone and bring home an Olympic medal through them.” This Olympic gold — It’s Saina’s dream. It’s Gopichand’s dream. As it is the dream of a million Indians all over the world. Power to this dream.