The 26-year-old is once again India's best bet for an Olympic medal in this sport. Her bronze medal in the London Olympics broke new ground for Indian badminton, however signs of progress were visible much earlier when she became the first Indian to reach the Olympic quarterfinals in the sport in 2008. Though nurtured through her formative years by Pullela Gopichand, she changed her coach to Vimal Kumar in September 2014, that has somewhat revived her career which appeared to be on the downslide at that time. Her already rich profile went up by a few notches in March of last year, when she became the first ever Indian to be crowned as the world number one.
That said, India are not expected to be in with a rich haul of medals in Rio and Nehwal will be one of the favourites, putting her under huge pressure. Inability to win a medal or not improving on her London 2012 bronze could be deemed a failure. Her head to head record against other top players could also go against her- these include world number two Tai Tzu Ying who has won their last seven encounters, former world number one Wang Shixian who has won five of their last seven encounters and 2012 Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui who has won nine of their 11 encounters. A second medal in Rio will confirm her as one of the finest athletes India has produced in recent times.
Shuttling high?
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