I hope to be fit before world championship: Saina Nehwal

As she recuperates from a recurring shoulder pain, Saina Nehwal is confident of regaining full fitness before the prestigious World badminton Championship that begin in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 10.

"There is some pain in the shoulder. I hope to be fit before the tournament," Saina told PTI. The Olympic bronze medallist has been unlucky when it comes to her fitness ahead of the World Championship. She had an upset stomach during the 2013 edition and ahead of the 2009 event she was diagnosed with chicken pox. The tournament is one where the world number 2 has never progressed beyond the quarterfinals.

Earlier this year, Saina had developed a shoulder pain en route to her runnersup finish at the All England championship in March. The 25-year-old will start her campaign in the second round, taking on the winner of the match between Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi and Kati Tolmoff of Estonia. Talking about the draw, Saina, who has got a bye in the first round, said: "The draw is really tough with Sayaka Takahashi and Wang Yihan both in my half. They are very strong players, so let us see how it will be for me in this tournament. I hope I do well this time."

Saina has a 3-0 record against Takahashi and twice it has been a threegame match, while against Yihan Wang it is a 2-9 record, that includes a win in England in March. "My training is going on fine. At the highest level there is no particular area which we have to work on as every part of the game needs correction. So it's like working on everything." Saina has lost to four Chinese players -- Wang Lin (2009), Wang Shixian (2010), Wang Xin (2011), Li Xuerui (2014) -- besides facing defeat against South Korea's Bae Yeon-ju in the 2013 edition of the World meet.

Besides there is World No. 1 Spaniard Carolina Marin, who had beaten her in the finals of All England, while Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand had beaten Saina thrice in the past. The second seed Indian said: "Competition has opened up a lot with Carolina (Marin) and (Intanon) Ratchanok. All the Chinese and Japanese players are also playing extremely well, so it has become more challenging with everyone playing extremely well in women singles."