New Delhi: London Olympics silver-medallist Mathias Boe of Denmark feels India’s Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu can clinch medals at the Rio Olympics this year as China’s dominance in world badminton, especially in women’s singles, seems to be ending.
Boe, who alongwith his men’s doubles partner Carsten Mogensen, won a silver and a bronze at the World Championship in Guangzhou and Copenhagen respectively, feels China’s women’s singles players seem a little old but said ruling them out will be a mistake.
“If you look at the last few tournaments they are not as good as they used to be but may be they tried something different, I don’t know. We will know that better after the Olympics. If they can get all five gold medals we can’t say so. But it seems they are not as dominant now,” Boe, who is in India to play for Mumbai Rockets at the Premier Badminton League (PBL), told PTI.
“Like in Ladies single, they always had the best in the top 4 in the world but now they have just one. In men’s singles they have Chen Long, he is the best, they have the best mixed and ladies doubles. However, I would say they have struggled a bit especially in ladies singles where they have always dominated. They seem a little old but let’s not rule them out because that would be a mistake,” he added.
Talking about India’s chances at the Olympics, Boe said: “I think Saina and Sindhu will have a chance. They are among the top-10 players of the world. Saina is in top-four, and both these girls have been at the highest level. So they can do that in Olympics. If they can handle pressure then definitely I don’t see why they can’t get a gold medal for India.”
The celebrated Danish player has already won the All England twice and said he aims to have another shot at glory at the prestigious event in Birmingham in March.
“We have few big tournaments which is always fun to win.
All England is one of the most prestigious tournaments apart from World Championship and Olympics. We have been fortunate to win it twice and to win it three times will be great as there are not many player to do so,” said Boe, who won the silver medal at the 2006 European Championships with Mogensen.
“Also there is Malaysia Open which we have never won, and India Open which we have won once but everytime we go on court we want to win. So that is what we are aiming for,” added the left-handed shuttler, who helped Mumbai Rockets reach the finals by beating Awadhe Warriors 3-0 in the semifinals last night. .
PTI
