Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal 

The 26-year-old is a default choice as her contribution to the sport has been immense. Though 2016 was not a very productive year in terms of the sport, she surely fits into the list of star shuttlers to watch out for. Fans would flock to the stadium to see the legend in action. Now let's take a close look at her journey from last PBL until now.

PBL 1st Season: Saina was nursing an injury and wanted to focus mainly on Rio Olympics but she still played for her team, Awadhe Warriors, a Lucknow based team. She was also among those who got the highest bid along with Lee Chong Wei. Though she failed to display her best performance on court, she was a crowd puller. The home game saw large number filling up the stadium just to watch Saina in action. Therefore, she only played the home leg.

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN: She took a long break after PBL, taking some time off to better her performance and the fitness level. Giving her best at the Olympics was the main target. Just before the mega event, Saina upped the level of expectation from her when she clinched the Australian Superseries title. But as a result of not being fully fit for Olympics, she fell prey to her injury and was ousted after the group stages. 

She received a lot of backlash for the same but her coach and family helped her regain confidence. And after her knee surgery and the required rest, she came back to competing at the higher level tournaments. China Open Superseries Premier was her comeback performance. She was out in the first round but before playing the former World No. 1 had made it clear that she's not focussing on results but just wants to compete.

Her competitive spirit is what kept her going. She was then seen at the Hong Kong Open SS where she went up till the quarter-finals, she further continued the momentum at the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold. The back-to-back quarter-final finish has certainly boosted her confidence. This tournament also marked the end of her season.

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD IN PBL 2017: Yet again PBL for Saina would be warming up for the new international season. As she and her coach have asserted that the Hyderabadi shuttler would get back to her best by the end of January, the tournament would be a teaser of her performance.