Saina needs to peak at the Olympics: Gopichand

Jakarta: Saina Nehwal's success in capturing her third Indonesia Open title has prompted chief national coach P Gopichand to urge his trainee to focus on the London Olympics and carry her form into the quadrennial event.

"We need to go and then assess her performance and work on the weaknesses. It would be very important for her to maintain her fitness and ensure that she peaks at the right time before the Olympics. These two wins will give her confidence a big boost," he was quoted as saying in DNA.

Gopichand – a former All England Open winner – praised Nehwal's skill on the badminton court in Jakarta, where she defeated Xuerui Li of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-19. "It is a very good victory for Saina. It was a tricky situation because we had a very tough schedule. There were many tight matches and it has been a very tough week. What was good is that she kept pushing," he said.

The chief national coach has hailed Saina Nehwal\'s back-to-back title wins as testament to her tenacity.

Nehwal's win came on the back of her Thailand Open title win last Sunday, and Gopichand said that was a testament to her will to succeed. "The tenacity that she showed all through the last two weeks is commendable because even when she lost a game, she was mentally stubborn," he said. "She played on Sunday last week and reached here on Monday night. From Wednesday onwards, to put up the same intensity and physical effort match by match each day and go through so many up and downs with all the adrenaline, it was good to see her managing all that well."

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