Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is aware that qualifying for the Paris Olympics will be difficult and the injury-ravaged Indian shuttler has no plans to quit badminton and would do everything to resurrect her career.Her ranking has significantly dropped to number 55 in the world since her injury in 2019. Saina said, “I get inflammation in my knee whenever I train for an hour or two. I am not able to bend my knee, so a second session of training is not possible. The doctors have given me a couple of injections. Of course, the Olympics are near and it is tough to qualify.She added, “Im making every effort to bounce back. My physiotherapists are assisting me, but if the inflammation doesnt go down, it will take me a bit longer to recuperate. Additionally, I dont want to play half-heartedly because it wont provide results”.Saina, who was chosen the Race Ambassador for the Harvest Gold Global Race on September 24 in Gurugram, said,”It wont happen with only one hour of training if youre aiming to compete against An Seyoung, Tai Tzu Ying, or Akane (Yamaguchi). The level has significantly increased. So you need a high-level game when you are playing such top-level players”. No hurry in retirementSaina, a two-time world championship medalist, has recently been dealing with groin and ankle issues in addition to having previously been diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis and moderate pancreatitis.Answering about retirement, Saina said, “Everyone has to retire someday, there is no deadline. Everyone is going to stop when they feel the body is not supporting them”.Saina backs SindhuSaina, who trained under former Indias coach Vimal Kumar in 2015–2016, backed fellow shuttler PV Sindhus move to train at the Prakash Padukone academy in Bangalore to regain her form.“If you believe something is not working under a coach, changing coaches or the environment may assist. You must give it a try. I gave it a try, and it worked. I made the world championship final”, said Saina.
