Saina Nehwal, who had a dream run winning three international titles, including the Singapore Open and the Indonesian Open Super Series titles, in the last three weeks, said she can become the World No. 1 but the focus right now has to be on winning tournaments and not on rankings.

The 20-year-old star player was accorded a warm reception on arrival at the Rajiv Gandhi Airport here on Tuesday. She drove from there in an open top, flower-decked jeep in the company of her sister, Pullela Gopi Chand and BAI official Punnaiah Choudhary.

The World No. 3 from India, said it is nice to be ranked World No.3 but it also means lot of hard work and the need to keep improving. “Yes, I am aware that I will be the most studied player now. But, it doesn’t mean that I will be shying away from new strategies,” she said.

“There are areas like my defence which I need to improve in the days to come. The fitness level has to be really good. The challenges are bound to be tougher especially after winning these titles,” Saina explained to a query.

“It is tough to maintain these rankings for they mean a lot to you as a player too. It is a demanding task. The focus now shifts to the World Championship in Paris next month. It is not going to be easy anyway,” the champion shuttler from Hyderabad pointed out.

“And do remember that no player can always keep winning these titles. There are bound to ups and downs. I only pray that I will be injury-free now to focus on the World Championship and the other two big events Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games later,” she pointed out.