Neha Pandit eyeing senior nationals

Shuttler Neha Pandit minces no words the moment you talk of her immediate target. Despite having participated in several tourneys at the international level and performing well in some of them, her main aim now is triumphing in the national championships. In the senior national championships held at Bangalore this year, Neha was runner-up. PV Sindhu, the young Indian badminton sensation defeated Neha 21-9 21-14 in the final.

The 25-year-old is in the state capital for participating in the All India Inter-Institutional Badminton Tournament representing the Airports Authority of India (AAI) team. The tourney began at UP Badminton Academy, today. The former Spanish Open runner-up said, "I want to win the national title. The past year has been good for me. I won the women's singles title in the All India senior ranking badminton tournament in December last year defeating PC Thulasi of Kerala 21-13, 21-19 in the finals while in the senior national championships held in January this year, I was runner-up. I was also a semi-finalist in the Iran Fajr international challenge the very next month. Though I have been participating in the senior nationals for the past five years, I have yet to win the crown. I feel that I am on the progress ladder in this endeavour by making it to the finals for the first time this year. So first I want to win the senior nationals and then concentrate on the international challenges ahead."

The seasoned player is happy with the badminton scenario in the country and gives credit for the popularity of the sport to Saina Nehwal. "Personally, I feel that it is because of Saina's success at the international level and the media attention being given to Saina that the sport has become popular in India."

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