Saina played the India Open last month without strapping her right knee and did not show any signs of discomfort.
Injury and Saina Nehwal seem to go hand-in-hand. Just when she has recovered from the knee injury that was troubling her from the pre-London Olympics days, the women's singles World No 2 suffered a fracture in her little toe on the left foot after the India Open.
"I am making good recovery," Saina told dna when asked how the preparations were for the Sudirman Cup starting in Kuala Lumpur on May 19.
Saina played the India Open last month without strapping her right knee and did not show any signs of discomfort. "The knee is fine now. I have recovered from it. Actually, I had trouble with my little toe, which I ignored and continued to play. Though it did not affect my game, I had to wait for two weeks for it to get better. Now I have started training and am showing good progress," she said.
The Hyderabadi will spearhead the Indian team for the Sudirman Cup, the world team championships where India are placed in Group 1A with eight-time champions China and one-time winner Indonesia. "We need to win three out of five matches to win a tie. I will go out and give my best in the women's singles," she said.
Saina has moved on from the distraction of the line-call error that saw her exit in the second round of last month's India Open. "No regrets having missed out on an opportunity to win despite being two match points after the line call. I was upset by the call and game was over. I will do my best in other events to overcome such distractions," she said.
It will be a hectic schedule for Saina over the next month or so. After Sudirman Cup, Saina is slated to play in the three tournaments back-to-back --- Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold (June 4-9), Indonesia Open Super Series Premier (June 10-16) and Singapore Open Super Series (June 18-23). She is top-seeded for the Thailand Open while she is seeded second behind Chinese Li Xuerui for Indonesia Open.
She did not commit to playing in all the three tournaments, though. "If fit, I will play all the tournaments," she said.
Saina won back-to-back titles in Thailand and Singapore last year. Asked if she could do an encore this year, she said, "No predictions. It depends on the fitness. As I always maintain, I will give my best and try to every tournament that I participate in."
The Indian team will leave for Kuala Lumpur on Thursday night and is scheduled to face China on Sunday (9.30am IST). The next day, India will meet Indonesia (9.30am IST).
The Indian team for Sudirman Cup:
Men's singles: P Kashyap, Anand Pawar
Men's doubles: Akshay Dewalkar/ Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Tarun Kona/ Arun Vishnu
Women's singles: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu
Women's doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa/ Pradnya Gadre, Aparna Balan/ Sikki Reddy
Mixed doubles: Kona/Ponnappa, Vishnu/Balan
About Sudirman Cup:
Started: 1989
Frequency: Held every two years
Matches: Men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles, mixed doubles
Defending champions: China
Past winners: China (8 times), South Korea (3), Indonesia (1)
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