India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal is eager to go to the Rio Olympics and pursue her dream of winning the elusive gold medal.

Saina, who was the 2012 Olympics women's singles event bronze medal winner, will be representing her country for the third time in the prestigious quadrennial sporting event that will take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in August.

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The 2016 Australian Badminton Open champion reached the quarterfinal stage in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Four years later, Saina was able to return and compete in the same event in 2012 in London, where she reached the semifinal round of the competition. It was the farthest an Indian shuttler has ever reached in an Olympics.

Saina, 26, was stopped by Wang Yihan of China in the round of last four. Saina settled for the bronze, but it was a great accomplishment as no other Indian had ever won an Olympic medal in the sports of badminton.

While recalling that match against her arch-rival Wang, Saina admits her drawbacks.

"In 2012, I was not as good as Yihan. She made me run heavily and I was tired," the world No. 6 told Outlook. Wang, who is the currently second-best in the world rankings, leads Saina with an 11-5 advantage in their head-to-head matchups.

Last month, Saina defeated former world No. 1 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and Wang Yihan before beating China's Sun Yu in the final in Sydney. 

According to Asia Times, China has long been the dominant force in the sport, sweeping all five titles at London four years ago, but the Chinese shuttlers no longer top the world rankings heading to Rio. Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia tops the men's singles ranking, while Carolina Marin of Spain leads the women's ranking.

Tagssaina nehwal, wang yihan, Li Xuerui, 2016 Rio Olympics, 2016 Australian Open, bwf rankings, bwf