New Delhi: Saina Nehwal on Saturday scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the number one spot in world rankings, reaffirming her status as the country’s most consistent performer in the international circuit.
The 25-year-old zoomed to the top after her closest challenger for the position, Spain’s Carolina Marin, lost in the India Open Super Series semifinal here.
Though the official rankings will be out only on Thursday next week, Saina has been assured of her ascent to the top owing to the reigning world champion’s 19-21 23-21 20-22 loss to third seed Thai Ratchanok Intanon.
Saina thus becomes only the second Indian overall to be world number one after Prakash Padukone had the distinction of being the numero uno men’s badminton player.
The top Indian shuttler also reached her maiden women’s singles final of the $275,000 India Open Superseries by defeating Japan’s Yui Hashimoto in straight games at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.
The top seed exacted revenge from Yui for her second round loss exactly two years ago here in the same tournament. It was the only time the two met previously.
World No.2 Saina will next take on 2013 winner and former World Champion Ratchanok Intanon in the final on Sunday.
“Number one is not at the back of mind right now. The only thing I am focussing on is playing all the tournaments and I want to win them,” Saina had said when asked about the ranking.
“I want to perform well and beat the players against whom I was losing. I don’t want to lose the way I was losing in the last three years. I want to be more consistent. When you are playing well, other things fall in place”, she said.
“It is tough to be in top-five for the last seven years. I hope to maintain it for some more time. I feel good. At the same time I have to work hard everyday, train everyday.
“It is too tiring. I want to be the best. It is my personal choice, fight against the top players. I want to be one of the top players in the world,” she asserted. “Everyone dreams of winning World Championship, Olympics and I am one of them. It is not that right now, I want everything. I want to be a little cool and relaxed and enjoy my game. It’s my job and I want to enjoy it,” she added.
The Hyderabad-based player has several firsts to her credit in Indian badminton. She was the first to be a junior world champion, besides being the first to clinch a Super Series title. (PTI)
