Olympics will be a fresh challenge

For,every third question and every second suggestion stops at the Olympics,inevitably.

Braving a storm does not imply you are certain to survive an earthquake,and Saina Nehwal,having just won her third Indonesian Open final in four successive appearances,is keeping her feet stubbornly planted to the ground despite being praised to the skies for her heroic fightback on Sunday.

For,every third question and every second suggestion stops at the Olympics,inevitably. Strong. Very strong, she says with a Bond-esque timbre describing the Chinese attack she expects at London. It wont be easy at all to beat them, she adds,despite having won 13-21,22-20,21-19 against Xuerui Li,the sturdiest of the Chinese in this Olympic year,with her 30-match winning streak,and five titles since January.

Yet,after trumping in the 1 hour-4 minute long battle to win her second title in two weeks (after Thailand Open),Nehwal can return to Hyderabad quietly confident of having achieved all that she could have achieved in her last competitive match before she heads to the Olympics. Im happy that I won all the matches I played this fortnight,beat some top players including a few Chinese. The Olympics will be a fresh challenge but this was nice, she reiterates,cautious of never letting her claims hit the high octave.

On the brink

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Nehwal,World No 5,had lost to Xuerui the last four times they played. She (Li) has not lost in a long time,and has all the strokes. I actually dont remember the match I beat her at all,feels like that long ago! But today was satisfying because I dictated against such a dominant player,and I was lucky to stave off the match points, she concedes.

What she wont say is that she had zoned in right from the end of the disastrous opening set,came out looking a different shuttler in the second,and appeared so unfazed on those match points,that she induced uncharacteristic errors from the normally unflappable World No 4,tipped to edge out Shixian Wang (No 3) from Chinas Olympic entries.

There was pressure and I wasnt confident of beating her,so the first set was bad. At 18-20 in the second,I focussed solely on how to make it very tough for her to win the next point. Strategies go for a toss,and you play on instinct, she says. Xuerui hit out,and the Indian had her lifeline.

Once in London,Nehwal will have to confront her demons all over again. But in the run-up,shes ticked most boxes,and believes she is as prepared as she can be before hitting the 5-week final preparation home stretch.

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