Saina Nehwal’s stumbling block

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Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal’s erratic recent form has been perplexing to say the least.

Ever since she made a comeback from an ankle injury, Saina has failed to live up to the promise she had shown towards the end of 2010.

On Sunday, in the final of the Indonesia Open Super Series, Saina was one point away from clinching her third successive title at Jakarta.

She was facing a familiar bugbear — a Chinese opponent. World No.3 Yihan Wang, in this case. There have been days when Saina would look unbeatable and days when she would fail to deliver the knockout punch. As it turned out, she was both in this match. From the brink of victory, Saina suddenly let the match slip out of her grasp and surrendered the result to Wang.

The Indonesian final brought to an end a frustrating Asian circuit for Saina, who lost in the quarterfinals in Thailand, in the second round at Singapore and now, the final in Indonesia.

Sports Authority of India coach Bhaskar Babu is of the opinion that Saina might be suffering from a dip in confidence as well as a lack of full fitness.

“Her ankle injury meant Saina wasn’t immediately able to resume training to the fullest. We didn’t make her go through explosive strength training as it might have aggravated her injury. That probably slowed her down on court. She now has around two months before the World Championships, which is more than enough time for her to get back to her best,” Bhaskar said.

It’s not as if Saina hasn’t performed at all this year. Apart from the Swiss Open title she won in March this year, she has to her credit a second place finish at the Malaysian Open in May, an impressive showing at the Sudirman Cup which followed and now, another runner-up finish in Indonesia.

While these are definitely not achievements to take lightly, they’re just not what are expected of the girl who had taken the badminton world by storm this time last year.

“She has done quite well, if you ask me. Playing in three finals, winning one title and performing better than most at Sudirman is quite good. But compared to her outing in Asia last year, this is just not quite there. But she can’t be blamed for that. Confidence-wise, she hasn’t quite been the same. But once she regains her full fitness, it’s only a matter of time before she gets back to being the Saina of old,” added Bhaskar Babu.