Our singles players have the best chance of winning a medal

BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, 11/06/2015: Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports, snapped with Indian badminton maestro Prakash Padukone, and Vimal Kumar, during the foundation stone laying ceremony for new synthetic hockey turf at Sports Authority of India (SAI) South Centre at Kengeri, Bengaluru on June 11, 2015. Photo: K. Murali Kumar

In the last edition, the Chinese were the favourites to win the (women’s singles) medal. This time it is wide open and there are many contenders. Saina Nehwal is a strong contender.

There are about eight women who are really doing well. From India’s point of view, our singles players have the best chance of winning a medal.

Saina is much more experienced now as this is her third Olympics. Also, she is going into the event having beaten some strong contenders and is high on confidence. She has completely recovered from her injury and has been handling some tough training sessions well.

The Australian Open win was a much-needed one for Saina. After injury, she had lost some close matches to her strong rivals and so getting the better of them in Australia was a big boost to her psyche.

After injury, her first major tournaments were the All England Championships and the India Super Series where she needed to defend points. It was tough losing in the quarterfinals and semifinals in these two events and that brought her ranking down.

Subsequently, she recovered and is currently No. 5. Her preparations are going well, and as far as handling high expectations is concerned, she is used to it.

The case of Thai star Ratchanok Intanon (who was cleared of doping last week after testing positive for a banned substance) is sad, because before substantiating facts unnecessary aspersions are cast on the player. It is tough to cope (with such false accusations). The majority of the athletes competing at that level are aware and careful.

Speaking of my own Olympics experience, I have very fond memories of the 1992 Barcelona Games. It was the first time that badminton was introduced in the Olympics (as a medal event). I was nearly 30 then and was towards the end of my international career.

Lasting memories

One of my lasting memories is watching Linford Christie winning the men’s 100m and Carl Lewis taking the long jump gold. Another one is of the dining hall in the Olympic village, sitting opposite Steffi Graf and having dinner.

You get to mix with the best all the time in the village. Ramesh Krishnan, Leander Paes (just 19 then) and I watched the athletics events together.

(as told to Shreedutta Chidananda)