Can Saina Nehwal break the jinx and emerge victorious in the Yonex India Open badminton championship to become World No. 1?
Apart from winning the 2010 Commonwealth Games singles gold at the Siri Fort Stadium here, Saina has not much to reflect on her performances in the Capital.
Ranked second in the world, Saina begins as the favourite to claim her maiden Super Series title in the country. Since parting ways with her mentor P. Gopi Chand last September, Saina has moved from seventh to second in World rankings by winning a couple of titles on the way.
This week could well be a landmark one in Saina’s career. Seeded to meet World champion Carolina Marin in Sunday’s final, Saina will be seeking to avenge the first-ever defeat suffered to the second-seeded Spaniard in the All England final earlier this month.
With world No. 1 Li Xuerui staying away and losing the ranking points earned by reaching the final here last year, Saina is closer to becoming the first non-Chinese since December 2011 to top the women’s world ranking list.
Denmark’s Tine Baun was the last non-Chinese to occupy the coveted spot.
Going by form and given the lack of depth in the field, Saina and Carolina should make the final. In only two scenarios, Saina can be denied the numero uno spot next week. One, Saina should fall in or before the quarterfinals with Carolina reaching the final. Two, Saina fails to reach the final and Carolina wins the title.
Should the two girls reach the final, Saina will be crowned world No. 1 irrespective of the outcome of the title-clash.
Saina, who cited “wrong timing” for staying away from the press conference to launch the event at noon, was present at another promotional event later in the afternoon and said, “I am not focusing on becoming the world No. 1. My aim is to win the title.”
Saina will be the host’s only title-contender in the absence of P.V. Sindhu who has been out of action for six weeks following a stress-fracture on her left foot last month.
Among the men, though Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen and K. Srikanth, ranked second and fourth in the world are seeded to clash in the final, legendary Chinese Lin Dan is being seen as the favourite. Since the draw was made before the latest ranking list, five-time world champion Lin Dan finds himself as the third seed.
Lin Dan, who made a brief and visibly-reluctant appearance at the official press conference on Monday, said, “I am playing here for my fans.”
Back from his self-imposed semi-retirement and looking to qualify for the next year’s Olympic Games in search of his third straight gold, Lin Dan has won every worthy title in the game at least twice.
In 2010, he walked away from the Siri Fort Stadium with the first of his three Asian championship titles. Last year, he was here as part of China’s unsuccessful campaign in the Thomas Cup. After signing up with Yonex this January, the ‘Super’ Dan now makes his India Open debut as the ‘favourite’.
Lin Dan is seeded to play Jorgensen, the All England finalist earlier this month, in the semifinals where he would be looking to improve upon his 6-2 head-to-head record. In fact, in their previous meeting in the China Open, in November last, Lin Dan denied the Dane a hat-trick of victories to win in three games.
The opening day’s action on Tuesday will be to ascertain the qualifiers.
