New Delhi:
Saina Nehwal's semi-final loss to a Chinese qualifier doesn't demean her achievements and the Hyderabadi still remains India's biggest women badminton star, believes national coach Pullela Gopichand.
"I think we shouldn't read too much into her semi-final loss. She was under a bit of pressure from the crowd yesterday but there are more positives and considering her achievements she is still a big star in badminton," said Gopichand.
"Over the last couple of years, Saina have won the Indonesian Open, Syed Modi Grand Prix, reached the All England semis and also played well in Olympics and hopefully she will win many more in future," he said.
Asked about Saturday's match which she lost against Xuerui Li, Gopichand said, "She made some couple of mistakes and went for quick points and played the fast game with the Chinese."
"She should have slowed down the game. In the first game because of the drift a couple of her shots went outside and after that she was reluctant to play long shots," he added.
Gopichand said Saina have improved a lot in the last three months and a lot of her strokes have sharpened.
"In the last three months, she has improved on her backhand tosses, cross net play and parallel strokes. Initially she had a problem at the backhand corner and forehand and net play but we have worked on those," he explained.