Saina Nehwal,The Asian Games Batminton Champion

Badminton competitions, in which seven events are present, would be held from November 13 to 21.The twenty year old Indian star has made it to the Quarter finals in the Beijing Olympic 2008 two years ago, has beaten Lydia when they met in the final of the Chinese Taipei Open in 2008.Saina is currently the world number 3 behind top ranked Chinese In Wang and Ihan Wang, is expected to get past either Lydia Cheah of Malaysia or Vietnam’s Thi Trang Vu, who are to clash in round one.The Vietnamese is, however, an unknown commodity for the Indian medal hope as the two have never met before in an international competition at the senior level.A victory in round two would pilot the Hyderabad based Indian world junior champion straight into a potentially dangerous clash with Hong Kong’s World no 12 Pui in ip, seeded sixth.Saina’s rising stature and her recent form going into the Asian Games on the back of the Commonwealth Games gold should stand her in good stead if she is to face the 21 year old Malaysian girl.In the semi- finals, Saina is drawn to meet Chinese world no 5 Shixian Wang, the third seed, a rival to whom she had lost in this year’s world championship.They have a 1- 1 head- to- head record till now, with the Haryana- born Saina having conquered Pui in straight games last year in the French Open after having lost to the Hong Kong girl in the 2007 Swiss Open.Saina is expected to win the Asian Games Singles Title.