Thaindian News

Avishek Roy
New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Saina Nehwal will stay among the top five in women’s badminton for quite some years and players like her can challenge the Chinese domination, says Athens Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson of England.

Robertson is all praise for the Indian who he thinks is classical player and add to that she is mentally strong.

“In badminton, it is sometimes the rest of the world versus China and we need players like Saina to challenge them” Robertson told IANS.

“Saina has been around for a while now and I feel she is going to remain among the top five for the next couple of years,” the 33-year-old Robertson, who won a silver in the team event and a gold in the mixed doubles with Gail Emms at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

The veteran England shuttler, who also has a mixed doubles silver from the Athens Olympics, said: “I have been seeing her on tours, she is technically a very classy and can can read the opponent very well. Above all, she is mentally very strong.”

“She started playing international tournaments at a young age and that has helped her,” he noted.

On Chinese domination, Robertson said it is the sheer number of players that keeps them at the top.

“It is a battle of numbers. If you look around, how many Britons play badminton, near to nothing compared to China. The Chinese train hard and their bench strength is amazing,” he said.