Saina aims for gold in Rio

Hyderabad - Badminton star Saina Nehwal, back home with an Olympic medal, said the bronze she won in London will motivate her to be the best in the world and get a gold in the 2016 Rio Summer Games.

“I am proud of myself. I went to London with a belief of winning a medal and I was able to achieve what. An Olympic medal was the reason started playing at the age of nine,” said Saina Tuesday at the felicitation ceremony organised in her honour.

Saina became the first Indian badminton player and second woman from the country to win an Olympic medal when her opponent Wang Xin of China pulled out of the bronze medal play-off due to a knee injury.

The 22-year-old said she was lucky to win the bronze but she was optimistic about her chances ever since she won back-to-back titles in Thailand and Indonesia in the run-up to the Olympics.

“I beat all the top players during that time and things were working for me. In Indonesia, I beat the player (Li Xuerui) who beat Wang Yihan to win the gold in London. So I was really confident about my chances going into the Olympics,” said the world no. 5.

Recollecting how she felt standing on an Olympic podium, Saina said: “It was an unbelievable feeling. I was thinking of all the years of training and hard work I put for winning an Olympic medal. It has motivated me to be the best in the World and do better in Rio.”