Thaindian News

Jakarta, June 17 (IANS) India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal Sunday said staying relaxed in crunch situations helped her win two titles in as many weeks and she is not thinking about the London Olympics yet.

Saina beat the formidable Li Xuerui of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 to win her third Indonesia Open title in four years. The World No.5 had won the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold event in Bangkok last Sunday.

“It has been a long two weeks and I just can’t believe that I have won two titles in this period. I have not yet started thinking about the Olympics but the victories have come at a very crucial time,” Saina told IANS after getting over the line against the reigning All England and Asian Champion.

“The main reason I’ve done well in the last tournaments is that I’ve stayed relaxed and played the pressure points well,” Saina said.

Saina lost the first game in 15 minutes and was two match points down after conceding six straight points in the second from leading 18-14. The 22-year-old said he was relaxed even while was at the brink of defeat and staying patient on her opponent’s match points enabled her to level the match.

“She hardly puts a foot wrong. She had a good strategy in the first game and was very aggressive too. Everything happened so quickly in the second. Despite losing six points in a row, I did not give up,” said Sania, who improved her record against Xuerui to 2-4 with her first win coming in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Singapore Open.

Going into the final, Li had beaten World No. 1 Yihan Wang in the semifinals and also got the better of the current World Champion in All England and Asian Championships.

Asked about defeating the in-form Chinese, Saina said: “It is a big confidence booster but all Chinese are very good. So I have to be wary of all of them in the Olympics.”

Beating World No. 4 Shixian Wang was another of Saina’s top scalps in the tournament.