Riding on great expectations,Saina in cautious mood

A field littered with floaters — the sort that Saina Nehwal would be wary of,until she thwacked them off the draw — sees the Indian shuttle ace start the Asia Badminton Championships next week in Delhi as top seed,but not quite with the absolute luxury of beginning with easy early rounds. First up is Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk,ranked a distant 36 to Nehwal’s 6,but with the reputation of an attacking intent which sees her lash out at the shuttle with little fear. “She’s an attacking player and hits hard. I haven’t played her in recent months,but the fact that she’s not been playing for 2-3 tournaments can mean that she comes in with very good preparation,” said Nehwal. Though the 20-year-old Indian is in the middle of a purple patch,she is unwilling to take chances against the Thai.

Nehwal is acutely aware of the expectations which will not allow for an early faltering. “The field is full of senior and experienced players,whose rankings are down currently. That doesn’t mean it’ll be easy,” said Saina,who has Malaysians Julia Pei Xian Wong and Mew Choo Wong deeper into the draw — both having inflicted shock wins on her in the past. “I’ve played tournaments before as top seed,and the Chinese absence or presence has stopped being very important. I know I can beat them,and I also know there are others who can be tricky. I’ll treat this as just another tournament because I want to stay focussed on CWG and Asian Games,” she said.

The presence of Hong Kong’s seasoned campaigner,second seed,Zhou Mi — whom she beat at the Uber Cup qualifiers this year — is also lapped with a mix of confidence and caution. “She’s a very good player,but if to win I have to beat all of them. First I need to get past the first rounds,” she says.

Also getting pride of place are India’s mixed doubles pair Jwala Gutta and V Diju,who start against qualifiers. Chetan Anand plays Malaysian Chong Chieh Lok in an easy first round,and is willing to look further ahead ambitiously to facing compatriot Anup Sridhar and China’s Chen Long.