It’s the most challenging time of my career: Saina

Left to nurse her Achilles tendons for more than six months, top shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday said it was the most challenging phase of her career and exuded confidence that she is in a good shape now and looking forward to defend her title at the India Super Series.

Saina had suffered an injury after her runner-up finish at the World Championship in August last but played at the China Super Series Premier, aggravating the injury and leading to the Achilles tendons. She skipped the Hong Kong Open but participated at the BWF World Super Series Finals in December. She played a couple of matches at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) but had to skip the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold, SAG and ABC at Hyderabad.

“It was the most difficult injury that I had in my career. Achilles tendonitis takes a lot of time. I had some issue with my shin and I came very close to having a stress fracture also,” Saina said. “After World Championship I was just going through the tournaments without any practice. I was not able to train. I had to play China and Dubai. Luckily I pulled out a match against Carolina. I also had issues with abdomen, so I had two injuries.” she added.