Saina Nehwal, a Career Of Many Firsts & Multiple Fightbacks
Saina Nehwal has seen many controversies in her career but managed to fight back and come out on top each time.
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As she marks another memorable milestone, the inspirational Saina Nehwal stands tall. India’s first two-time Commonwealth Games singles gold medallist in badminton brings wonderful qualities in significant chunks to the court and endears herself to her fans and, perhaps, even her foes as a player of the highest quality.
The 28-year-old has had a fascinating, and even fantastic, journey from the time her parents, Dr Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Nehwal – good State-level players themselves – moved from Haryana to Hyderabad in 1998 so that she could train with Nani Prasad and then with the renowned SM Arif, before former All-England Champion Pullela Gopichand took her under his wings.
A Career of Many Firsts
Saina announced her arrival on the National stage as a 15-year-old by making it to the women’s singles final against eight-time champion Aparna Popat in the National Championship in Bangalore in 2006. She lost the final but it was the start of a journey that led her to the top of the women’s world rankings in 2015.
Along the way, she has celebrated many milestones, not least of which are the 2012 Olympic Games bronze medal, the World No 1 spot, as well as the World Championship silver (2015) and bronze (2017).
However, it is in repeatedly beating the players from the Chinese assembly line that Saina offered her greatest contribution to Indian – and even world – badminton.
She was the first Indian to be in a World junior final in 2006, the first to win a World junior crown two years later, and the first Indian woman to win a Grand Prix event in 2008. It was no surprise that she became the first Indian woman to win a Super Series event when she topped the Indonesian Open in Jakarta in June the following year with a victory over Chinese World No 3 Lin Wang.
A Golden CWG
She kept adding layers to her game, becoming mentally stronger after her three-game loss to Maria Kristin Yulianti in the 2008 Olympic quarterfinals. She has also enhanced her patience by volumes, exemplified one more time when she engaged Sindhu in a long rally at 17-19 in the second game of their pulsating final in Gold Coast. She waited for Sindhu to make the error.
Through the match, she drew on her renowned mental strength to extend an unbeaten run in Gold Coast, helping the team win gold and claiming one on her own steam. She wound herself up for that high-voltage battle with Sindhu and delivered her best, pushing her limits to prevent the match from slipping into the third game and tilting the balance in her younger compatriot’s favour.
And this, after she held out a threat to not play the Commonwealth Games as her father was not given the facilities she believed they were promised at the Gold Coast.
Controversies and a Comeback
Saina, though, is no stranger to controversy. From blaming the Badminton Association of India for delaying her entry to the 2008 China Open to expressing a grouse over not being given the Padma Bhushan, she has spoken out unhesitatingly.
She may have lost some important sympathisers when she played the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio with a knee injury. It appeared that she had made her own return to fitness more difficult for herself. After surgery and rehab, she has come back and worked on her fitness to be able to lock horns with the players now coming through the ranks.
It is just as well that Saina Nehwal made peace and returned from Bengaluru to the Gopichand Academy in September last, three years after she moved out to train with Vimal Kumar. She was wanting to experience a different regimen to the ones in the precincts of the Academy in Gachibowli. It also appeared that she was a bit unnerved by the arrival of a younger challenger.
Saina left all that behind in making a decisive shift, perhaps eyeing the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She has enjoyed a good run since her return. The first four months of 2018 have been interesting – and she promises to make this year as memorable as any.
She skipped the Malaysia Masters owing to an ankle injury, but made it to the final of the Indonesia Masters, including a win in straight games over Sindhu. She backed that up with an appearance in the last eight in the India Open before falling again to Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, this time in the opening round of the All-England Open in Birmingham.
Her second Commonwealth Games individual gold medal, which she now says is equal to the Olympic Games bronze that she won in London in 2012, is but another well-deserved and beautiful stop on this journey of hers which started with her father Harvir Singh’s decision to move base to Hyderabad so that she could pursue her passion.
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