'HK win beats Asian Games sorrow'
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New Delhi: After clinching her career's fourth Super Series title with a thumping victory in the Hong Kong Open, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal today said the triumph has made up for the disappointment of last month's Asian Games debacle.
"It was fantastic especially since I didn't do well in the Asian Games. I didn't train much before this tournament and didn't expect to win. May be because I practiced a lot before the Asian Games so I decided to relax but I am very happy to win it here," said Saina, who had lost in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in China last month.
Saina beat China's Shixian Wang 15-21 21-16 21-17 to lift her third Super Series title of the year and said she was confident of pulling off a win even though she lost the first game.
"I was nervous in the first game but I was confident at the same time. After I won the second game I gained more confidence. I was on the slower side and I expected her to hit negative shots and she did.
"In the third game the strategy was to have a lead before I moved to the slower side and I was leading 11-9. I was moving well today and was confident of pulling off the match," she said.
Saina is the only Indian female shuttler to break the Chinese stranglehold in badminton and the Hyderabadi said she went into the match with a never-say-die attitude.
"It is always difficult to beat Chinese players because they are physically strong and have good strokes but it is not impossible. I went with this attitude," she said.
Saina had earlier won back-to-back titles - Indian Open Grand Prix, Singapore Open Super Series and defended the Indonesian Super Series - before clinching the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in October here.
Saina, who dropped to fourth in the world rankings, is likely to inch closer to the number one spot with this resounding victory.
"I always wanted to win more tournaments and also become the number one but I didn't expect to be number one by this year one and it would be another big dream come true. It will give me a lot of confidence," she said.
The world number four Indian said she would take a break and would be back to training for next season which would be a year of 2012 London Olympic qualification.
"Just want to relax a bit and then it would be back to training and gear up for the Olympic qualification year next season," she said.
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