Thaindian News

London, Aug 4 (IANS) Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal said she could not believe she won a medal after she was awarded the victory against Chinese Xin Wang here Saturday.

The Hyderabadi was trailing 18-21, 0-1 when Xin retired hurt after a bad landing on her knee at the end of the first game.

“I still can’t believe that I have won a medal. I never believed that India could win a medal in badminton because the competition is so tough. It is a dream come true for me,” Saina told reporters after the match at the Wembley Arena.

“I had trained hard and there was a lot of expectation. I initially thought that she was just taking rest as she was tiring out, but then I realised she was injured. It’s sad that she got injured, but I was confident of beating her as I was coming into rhythm,” said the Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“Today my strategy was to engage her in long rallies and it did work to some extent. Yesterday (in the semi-final) also we had the same strategy, but it did not work. I should have tried something else and played my own game instead of trying to match her,” said Saina.

“I had never won a match like this before. May be, the medal was written for me. I have always wanted an Olympic medal. I always wanted to see India’s national flag going up at the podium,” said India’s second woman Olympic medallist after Karnam Malleswari.