New Delhi: India's teenage badminton prodigy Saina Nehwal says she is unperturbed at the prospects of facing world number 13 Jiang Yangiao of China in the first round of women's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Madrid that begins on Monday.
The 16-year-old Hyderabad girl, making her maiden appearance at the prestigious event, was unlucky to draw a top player in her opening match as the women's draw was redone following an error by the International Badminton Federation earlier.
But the teenager, ranked 30, remained unfazed.
"I have not played her before. The earlier draw was quite easy but it was changed at the last moment. But I have trained well and would give my best," Saina said.
Starting with the Philippines Open triumph in May, Saina has seen a meteoric rise in her very first year in the IBF circuit, to some extent surpassing her own expectations.
"I thought of getting into the top 30 at the end of the year but now I could reset my goals. Now my goal is to reach the top 10," she said.
"This is my first world championship and the ranking has boosted my confidence. But rankings will improve only if I keep on performing well," the Intermediate student of St Ann's College in Hyderabad said.
In her last two events, she reached the pre-quarter-final of the six-star Korean Open and then made it to the second round of Hong Kong Open where she gave a tough fight to top seed Ning Zhang of China.
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