Saina focused, not distracted by relationship: Coach Vimal
Former national badminton coach Vimal Kumar Thursday lauded Saina Nehwal for not letting her relationship with fellow shuttler Parupalli Kashyap affect her game, amid reports that the two are tying the knot in December.
“I knew about their relationship. One good thing about it is, Saina managed it very well. She did not get distracted with it. Her priority was sport and she gave hundred per cent to it,” he said at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence here.
Saina shifted from Hyderabad to Bengaluru to train under Vimal Kumar in 2014 before her return to Hyderabad to once again train under Pullela Gopichand last year. Kumar has been instrumental in helping Saina achieve world No. 1 ranking in April 2015 and win a silver at the World Championship.
“Normally, such attractions and relationships among teens are a great distraction, but Saina drew inspiration from it and reached many milestones in her career,” he added.
SAINA FACES OKUHARA
India ace Saina Nehwal progressed to the quarter-finals of the $600,000 Korea Open after seeing off Korea’s Kim Ga Eun at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament here on Thursday.
She defeated Kim Ga Eun 21-18, 21-18 in a 37-minute women’s singles pre-quarterfinal.
Fifth seed Saina will meet 2017 world champion and third seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara.
Saina has a 6-3 head-to-head count against Okuhara but she has lost to the Japanese in the last two meetings. The Indian made a rampaging start, jumping to a 10-2 lead but Kim narrowed the gap to 8-11 at the break.
After the breather, Saina widened the lead to 16-10 lead but the Korean reeled off six straight points to draw level at 18-18. However, Saina ensured there were no hiccups, grabbing the required three points to pocket the opening game. Kim came back strongly in the second game, surging to an 8-1 advantage but the experienced Saina slowly clawed her way back.