Hyderabad, Aug 12 - The organisers of the World Badminton Championships are banking on star Indian player Saina Nehwal to draw home crowd to Gachibowli's Balayogi Stadium which was sparsely populated on the first two days.

Saina, who played her first match of the Championship Wednesday, managed to attract a sizeabe number of fans to the 4,000-capacity indoor arena.

The organisers are hoping for a much improved attendance in the remaining days as Saina is expected to go far in the championships.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) president V. K. Verma said he expected a fair turn out in the last three days of the event.

'The distance of the venue from the city could be a major factor for the lack of spectator support for the championships. Also the media hype over swine flu might have also kept people away. But today's turn-out for Saina's match was good. Hopefully, her progress in the tournament will bring in more and more people.'

The season tickets, priced at Rs.9,500 (gold class), Rs.6,000 (silver) and Rs.4,800 (bronze) for the entire tournament, were sold online. The prices were later slashed to Rs.3,500 (delux) and Rs.2,500 (standard).