China's Tai Ying biggest threat to me at Rio, says Saina Nehwal

Hyderabad: London Olympics bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal, who recently clinched her second Australian Open title, believes Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying is going to be her biggest threat at the Rio Olympics.

Taiwan's top female badminton player, Tai Tzu-Ying came into the limelight after beating China's former world No.1 Wang Yihan to win the women's singles title at the 2016 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier.

"Tai is a very strong player. She is beating a lot of top players and she even won the Indonesia Open. She is more of a technical player and I would still say she is one of the biggest threats to me because she has got those difficult shots which are very tough to pick up," Saina told the media here.

"She has got that kind of a game which most of the players will hate because she got very good flick game. She has got that 'stop and move' game which most of the players don't like," she adds.

The Rio-bound shuttler, who defeated world number 12, Sun Yu of China, asserted that she needs to have to good strategy to beat Tai.

"It's not going right as of now for me. Others are still finding a way to beat her. But I still have to analyse and get ready for her because she is going to be a very tough contender in the Olympics," she said.

The Rio-bound shuttler, who defeated world number 12, Sun Yu of China to win her second Australian Open title, said she needs to improve her technique in order to come out with an outstanding performance at the Olympics.

"I would rate myself as the hardest working player, but I need to improve a lot technique-wise, I have to keep on working. Overall there is a need to improve more," she said.

Saina is among the seven shuttlers to compete in the Rio Games, starting August 5 in Rio de Janeiro.