Former all-England champion Prakash Padukone has said Saina Nehwal, who won the Super Series event in Indonesia recently, can become the top-ranked shuttler in the world in two years’ time.

The former All England champion said that Saina had improved her game and the results were showing now.

“Saina has all the qualities to become the world number one, if she continues to work hard and maintain her form,” said Prakash at a media conference here. “She has improved her play at the net and is also moving better. She looks fitter than ever. But she should not rest on her laurels and strive to get better in all these areas.”

Saina vs Sania Padukone also felt that Saina Nehwal’s achievements on the badminton court outdid those of her Hyderabad compatriot Sania Mirza’s in tennis.

“I’m not going by the rankings, which can be achieved by picking and choosing the tournaments one wants to play. But Saina has beaten more top-rated players than Sania and I would rate her performance higher,” Padukone said.

Prakash also asked the men shuttlers, five of whom are in the world top-50, to take inspiration from Saina.

“I’m happy that five of our men shuttlers are in the top-50 and seven in the top-100, but this is not enough. They are all talented and hard working. But they need to put in more effort,” he said.

“They should be prepared to take on top players in succession from early on.”