Taking on the Chinese
They said she had no charisma. They also said she could not hold public attention. Badminton player Saina Nehwal showed them why she would be the most talked about girl by breaking into top-2 of the world rankings
“Don’t worry, I will beat the Chinese girl,” is what Saina Nehwal assured her father minutes before the Indonesian Open Badminton Championship last year. Nehwal not only lived up to her words by winning the tournament, she also defeated the third-seeded Chinese shuttler Lin Wang to win her first Super Series title. With this victory, she achieved a rare feet of becoming the first Indian woman badminton player to emerge victorious in a Super Series title, which is equivalent to winning a Grand Slam in tennis.
The promise that she had shown few years back seems to have fully blossomed. The world of sport is uncompromising and nothing is handed on a platter. Skills take you to a certain point but thereafter, it is all about the hard yards you are willing to put in. It’s about keeping the flame of ambition alive, ever flickering within you. The legendary Prakash Padukone called her victory in the 2009 Indonesian Super Series the turning point of her career. He said, “She will very soon become the world number one.” Nehwal isn’t too far away from making the giant leap. While she is still the reigning under-19 national champion, Nehwal has already established herself as the biggest threat in the international badminton circuit.
Not to forget that she became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Prior to that, in 2006, she became the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championship. She was also awarded the most promising player in 2008, and was conferred the Padma Shri early this year. The 20-year-old Hyderabadi is soaring high these days and deserves credit for ending China’s dominance in the badminton world. She has won three back-to-back tournaments in three weeks. Nehwal started by winning the Indian Open in Chennai and then clinched the Super Series in Singapore. In the subsequent week, she defended her title in Indonesia Open Badminton Championship, beating Japan’s Sayaka Sato 21-19, 13-21 and 21-11. She became the first Indian shuttler to achieve the feat, which propelled her to number three in the world rankings.
Asked about her quest for the top spot, she says, “It’s a great honour to even think on those lines but as of now I would like to concentrate on winning matches and continue working hard.” Pressed further, the attacking player quips, “No, I don't look so much in the future.” Playing three consecutive tournaments may have drained her physically but not in spirit. In fact, her aim is to get ready for the World Championships, which will be held in August in Paris.
For Nehwal, it’s been one interesting journey to the top. She couldn’t have asked for a more favourable environment to be initiated to the sport. Her parents had a longstanding relationship with the game – both Dr Harvir Singh and Usha Nehwal were former badminton champions from Haryana. Her father is associated with the Directorate of Oilseeds Research in Hyderabad as scientist. With him as the guiding force, Nehwal could seamlessly step into the shuttle world.
Born in Hisar, a small village in Haryana, she has spent all her life in Hyderabad where she started training at the age of eight under the guidance of local coach Nani Prasad. The promise was evident even then. She was always demanding on herself, ever steaming through a gruelling schedule. Nehwal would start at four in the morning and travel 25 kilometres to reach Hyderabad’s Lal Bahadur Stadium for practice. Since 1998, she has been steadfastly following this order-of-the-day. While girls of her age get ready to travel to the city for tuitions, she heads in the opposite direction – to Gachibowli – at the outskirts of Hyderabad for training.
National coach and Nehwal’s mentor Pullela Gopichand believes that she is the fittest player on the circuit. Gopichand, whom Nehwal fondly calls Gopi bhaiya, says, “If we ask her to do something, she follows it blindly. In 2007, we wanted to reduce the flab in her body and gave her a diet chart, which was very tough to follow.” She not only gave up her favourite junk food, but also turned non-vegetarian. She started having meat only to boost her muscle power. With flavourless food part of her daily diet, her best moments are when she is allowed to eat her favourite aloo ka paratha made by her mother.
Unaffectedly Indian, it shows in her choice of on-screen heroes too. She may not talk much of Sean Connery or George Clooney. Shah Rukh Khan is her favourite, and she finds Hrithik Roshan extremely attractive. Preparation for tournaments has kept her on her toes for the past six months; so much so that she is yet to watch Kites. You could say that success has come with a price tag – no friends to hang around with, depriving her of the little joys of life and forbidding her from the sweet indulgences.
“I have no regrets,” she insists, “because nobody has forced me to give up anything. I am denying it myself. When I count what I have missed in life as a teenager and compare that with what I have achieved, I feel proud of my achievements. I am very happy with what I am doing now and I want to continue with that.”
The sacrifices she made in her early days have been worth it for a game that has given her so much. Meanwhile, some things have changed. As a child, she would cling to her father while travelling on his scooter. Fully charged in the morning, she would be half-asleep during the journey and completely sapped by evening. Today, Nehwal travels the same distance – 50 km every day – but in the comfort of her car.
Her life is rooted in simplicity, which is a boon of sorts. In contrast to Sania Mirza, who also hails from Hyderabad, Nehwal doesn’t quite have the glamour quotient. In fact, after etching her name alongside the top three badminton players she could make a comfortable entry to her home city, unlike the hysteric welcome heaped on India’s Twenty20 World Cup winning team three years ago.
Her parents are not always around to bask in the warm glow of her achievements. Dr Singh can’t travel with his daughter since his work doesn't permit him and Mrs Nehwal doesn’t have a passport. So, they watch her only on television. On the day of the Indonesian Open final, they were glued to the small screen, skipping a beat whenever Nehwal missed a point and going through a whole gamut of emotions. An elated Singh recalls, “As a five month-old baby in 1990, Saina visited the indoor stadium at Hissar where she suddenly broke into a hearty laugh. A love affair that started so early in her life continues to this day, and we are very happy that she has made us and the country proud.”
With the World Badminton Championship, Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games coming up, we hope her might increases.
