It was on March 29 that she was crowned the queen of world badminton. In fact, the official announcement about her World No. 1 ranking was made only on Thursday, with the release of the latest rankings by the game's international governing body.
And barely three days later, Saina lost the No. 1 spot after losing the semifinals to China's Li Xuerui at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier on Saturday.
But Saina remains unfazed. "I am happy I reached No. 1 and in the future, I will be world No. 1 again," she tells media.
Not sounding even a tad bit upset about losing out the ranking, Saina goes on to say, "Rankings hardly matter. What is important is I have been playing consistently. I want to keep it going. I got to the No. 1 spot after a lot of hard work and good performances on court. So, I don't want to be sitting and feeling bad thinking I am no longer World No. 1. Instead, I am happy that I am able to beat top class Chinese players. And if I keep playing well, it's possible that I will become No. 1 again."
In the match that she lost to Xuerui, someone who has beat Saina nine times in their 11 meetings, Saina says she wasn't too happy with the umpiring.
“I was almost beating her. But two calls went against me in the last game. I would have defeated her if those calls were not taken. I was 19-18 up in the third game and my smash (which was called incorrect) was right, and I would have been 20-18. But the umpire overruled. And I couldn't do anything after the match was over and she was declared the winner," she says.
GA
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