Melbourne: Saina Nehwal and national champion Anup Sridhar's inclusion was the main contributing factor in India's bronze medal finish in badminton team event at the Commonwealth Games, according to the coach.
India put up a confident 3-1 win against New Zealand to bag the medal on Monday.
Aparna Popat and Chetan Anand, who played in the league matches in the men's and women's singles respectively, were not in the best of form and therefore the young guns were given a chance, he said.
"After we found that Chetan and Aparna had trouble adjusting to the drift in the stadium, we decided to go for Anup and Saina, who had adapted wonderfully well."
This move laid the ground for winning the bronze medal as they disposed of top-rated Singapore in the quarterfinals with Anup and Saina's heroics.
"I knew that we have a chance of wining a medal in the team event and I am happy that my team was up to the task," he said.
"We will be more confident now of doing well in the open events," he said.
Powered by Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal, India had almost made it to the finals but lost 3-2 to higher-ranked England in the semi-finals on Sunday.
Saina was a revelation as the 16-year-old from Hyderabad turned out to be a giant killer toppling defending women's gold and silver meddalists Li Li of Singapore and Tracey Hallam of England respectively.
After Sunday's feat, she stunned former World Champion New Zealand's Rebecca Bellingham 21-13 24-22 on Monday.
The prodigy from Hyderabad pulled off amazing wins dispatching the stalwarts showing her tenacity.
Saina expressed her joy after scripting the upset against the top ranked New Zelander.
"I am feeling on the top of the world, I think we played well and deserved to win the bronze," Saina said after the tie.
Going by her recent form, she will move into the individual event as the dark horse.
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