by Saran, Renu
Badminton Queen of India
Saina Nehwal
eISBN: 978-93-5083-870-9
© Publisher
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
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Edition: 2013
Badminton Queen of India: Saina Nehwal
By - Renu Saran
Preface
Saina Nehwal, one of the best sporting talents produced by India is a world-class champion of present time. The talented girl has achieved great things pretty early in life. Right from the age of 8, she had dedicated her life to badminton. This became her chosen sport. Saina Nehwal is certainly the brightest star in Indian sport. Despite the cricket hype and craze about sports fans in India, badminton managed to carve a niche; kudos to Saina Nehwal and her incredible victories. People now like to watch badminton and appreciate Saina’s victory.
Away from the media glare, Saina’s career has enjoyed steady rise. Be it her popular National Badminton Championship victory or the Olympic medal, Saina has regularly beaten the top ten players. With dedicated and successful attempts of increasing her rank, Saina is truly a world-class achiever.
Saina, in all likelihood is the pride of our nation. Critics and well-wishers strongly feel that the girl will continue to bring great laurels to the country and make everyone proud in the years to come. We wish this real achiever huge success, fame, and happiness in future.
– Renu Saran
Contents
1. The Young Girl Who Brought Glory to India
2. Birth of a Badminton Star
3. Childhood of Saina
4. The Steady Winning Rituals
5. Saina’s Journey to the Top
6. Some Special Moments in Saina’s Career
7. Saina’s Coaches
8. Saina’s Preparation Before Match
9. Ideal Diet for a Badminton Player
10. How to Be Mentally Prepared Before a Game
11. Awards and Honours – A Part of Saina Nehwal’s Life
12. Saina’s Injury Free Career
13. What Makes Saina Nehwal Super Saina and a Winner?
14. Some of the Significant Years in Saina Nehwal’s Life
15. Saina Nehwal’s Daily Training Schedule
16. Sponsorship and Endorsements
17. The Sacrifice of Parents
18. Badminton Fitness
19. Stepping into the Glamour World
20. Saina’s Favourite Badminton Players
21. Saina’s Favourite Cities
22. The Sportspersons Saina Admires
23. Saina and Her Chinese Opponents
24. Saina’s Non Badminton Interests
25. Saina Nehwal and Spirituality
26. Famous Quotes by Saina Nehwal and Eminent Badminton Players
27. Saina and Her Lucky Courts
28. Future Plans of Saina Nehwal
29. Things You Didn’t Know about Saina Nehwal
30. Saina’s Best Friend – Dedication
31. What Others Say about Saina Nehwal
The Young Girl Who Brought
Glory to India
Saina Nehwal, the badminton sensation of India, has brought glory to India by winning the bronze medal at the London Olympics. She has also given stunning performances by winning the Indonesian series and the Swiss Open Grand Prix.
Other than being a talented badminton player, this young girl has always displayed great sportsmanship spirit and respect to the country. Her conduct on and off court has always been impeccable. It was almost at par with Sachin Tendulkar, the cricketing maestro. The girl has also been in the limelight for over a decade now. But her primary focus has always been the game. Never had she made a comment that was inappropriate or against the spirit of patriotism that players usually portray. Her main focus has always been the game. She would never surrender or accept defeat easily. With a series of success at a young age, the girl has carried the pressures and expectations of a billion Indians on her young shoulders. And she did it with such poise that only a true professional could have done.
The girl had to undergo rigorous training schedule and sacrifice small pleasures of life. She had done this throughout her career and this is exactly what is helping her emerge as one of the most talented and reigning badminton queens across the globe.
India is proud to have produced a badminton player (only non-Chinese player) who reached the semis of the Olympics. She is also the only player whom Chinese women badminton players fear.
The girl knows the art of maintaining dignity and composure. She never loses focus on the sport regardless how the glamour world and media treats her. True sportsmanship spirit is what the girl believes in. No wonder the nation didn’t witness any overt celebrations after Xin Wang (her Chinese opponent) retired hurt from the match and the bronze medal fell for her. Saina knew the circumstances well and her behaviour was apt. Her loss in a match is graceful enough because she knows how to accept her weakness.
Saina, the paragon of womanhood has achieved a lot at a very young age. The girl visits courts and delivers her best. Saina’s perseverance, focus, consistency and incredible ability to carry herself makes her a winner always.
Birth of A Badminton Star
Saina, the living legend, is considered as the legendary Indian Badminton player and she is probably the best women Indian Badminton player. The early life of Saina Nehwal was full of struggle. She battled with each obstacle and won over it.
Saina has obtained some amazing achievements in the past. She has accomplished the second position on the globe and been successful in three worldwide competitions. Her greatest accomplishment is that she became the first native Indian woman to arrive at the quarter-finals circular at the Olympic activities. She was granted Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Prize this season for her spectacular performance in worldwide competitions.
Early years of Saina Nehwal was full of hard work and practicing the badminton all the time. She was born on 17th March, 1990, in Dhindar, Hisar, a town in Haryana to Dr. Harvir Singh and Mrs. Usha Nehwal. Thereafter, the family moved to Hyderabad. Her influence for becoming a badminton player came from her family itself. Her father is a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad. Both Harvir and Usha were badminton state champions for Haryana.
Childhood of Saina
Since Saina’a parents were avid badminton players, they used to walk down to the faculty club at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural campus to play badminton. Saina and her sister Abu used to accompany their parents. Abu was seven years old at that time and used to carry six months old Saina.
Little Saina loved badminton since she was an infant. Her father noticed his infant daughter shrieking out aloud while the couple played badminton. She also followed the shuttle back and forth. This was one game Saina thoroughly enjoyed right from her childhood.
Saina was a cute little girl when she was five years old. She was nicknamed ‘Steffi’ by her friends and family as she had keen interest in sports and related activities.
Saina was at her naughtiest when she was 4 to 5 years old. When the family lived in Hissar, the residential area was a bit dangerous for kids as there were lots of monkeys. But Saina was a brave girl. She would often scare the poor monkeys by running after them.
One day, she gave a pleasant surprise to her father. She came home holding 3 big trophies. She had won all of them in the sports meet at school.
Once, Saina met with a horrifying incident in he
r life. It was a difficult moment for her parents. In fact, it still brings shudders to her father. Saina got her finger seriously injured when she was a child. The finger was actually in two pieces, just dangling with a little bit of skin. Her mother acted promptly and wrapped the finger in ice. She rushed her to the hospital and the surgeon did a good job fixing it and saved little Saina’s finger.
Saina grew up to be a smart, energetic toddler. She was admitted to a school within the Haryana Agricultural campus. Life in school was normal just as any child’s. Saina was an obedient student in school from 8:30 in the morning till 1:30 in the afternoon. Her favourite pastime was playing outdoors for a long time.
Childhood Picture of Saina Nehwal
– Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan’s Vidyashram, her school
In 1998, when Saina was eight years old, Dr. Harvir Singh was chosen for the post of principal scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Now, this demanded a transfer of place and the entire family shifted to Hyderabad.
It was a new experience altogether for Saina. She missed her school, friends, and everything that was good about her birthplace. Hyderabad was new. The language was different. To worsen the situation, the kids were shifted during summer holidays. All they could do was sit at home and get bored.
Dr. Harvir Singh and his wife noticed boredom that was killing their children. One day, they came across a karate school and decided to enrol Saina for the classes. She started learning the martial art from Coach Indrasena Reddy. The coach was paid Rs. 100 each month. The training sessions went on smooth for a year and Saina managed to win a brown belt.
But one day, the karate coaching came to an abrupt end. In December 1998, Saina’s coach demanded a demonstration. The instructor prepared to run a motorbike over the hands of the students. For Saina, the demonstration was a little different as she was new to the art. She had to hold her breath and balance a heavy weight on her stomach. A man weighing 90 kg stepped on her stomach making it very difficult to hold her breath, she exhaled. This was a huge blunder on her part. Poor Saina had to suffer from severe stomach pain for many days after. This incident brought her karate classes to an end forever.
During the summer of 1999, Dr. Harvir Singh heard of a badminton camp that was being organized by the Andhra Pradesh Sports Authority. Dr. Singh was sure about enrolling Saina into the camp. There was no looking back since then.
Dr. Harvir Singh used to visit the Lal Bahadur Shashtri Stadium early morning. But they were informed that the enrolment was closed down for the season. Then, Dr. Harvir Singh met the senior coaches P. S. S. Nani Prasad and S. L. Giverdhan Reddy. Learning about the enthusiasm of the child and upon her father’s insistence, the coaches approved an enrolment.
On that morning, Saina’s very first stroke was a smash. This impressed the coaches. And from then onwards Saina attended the badminton camp every morning religiously with her mother. Since the place was very far from where the family lived, Saina and her mother had to wake up very early to mark their presence on time.
The camp experience was new for Saina as she had to indulge in some exercises too. She had to run up and down the stairs, run about 400 metre, and do cross country racing. Since, she was working out for the first time ever in her life, it took sometime for her to adapt to the situation.
Mrs. Usha noticed a spark in her daughter. She decided to train her in the sport in her free time. So, Saina used to practise the sport with her mother in the afternoon too. She used to teach her the strokes and instructed on what the little girl should focus the next day at camp. Her interest in daughter’s game was such that even the coaches would agree to her suggestions.
Towards the end of the camp, an announcement was made. The organizers decided that one player among them would be selected for further training. The selection was performance based. Sania reached the finals but lost it to a player from Maharashtra, Deethi. Deethi was selected but couldn’t go ahead with the training as it was time for her to return back to Nagpur where she hailed from. Deethi’s loss was Saina’s gain. She easily slipped into the slot.
At this point of time, Saina never thought of badminton beyond holidays. However, Mrs. Usha was quite ambitious and decided to encourage her daughter to pursue the sport. She pushed her little daughter into the training session.
Soon, the school session began and Saina resumed her 4th standard. The badminton coaching was to continue along with the study and this little girl agreed. Although, Lal Bahadur Stadium was about 25 kilometers from the company quarters the family resided in, Saina was determined.
Each morning, she would wake up at four, get ready and take a bus to the stadium. The little girl trained between 6:00 am to 8:00 regularly and rushed to school. The afternoons were dedicated to the stadiums again. It was her mother’s duty to pick her up from school gate and take her to stadium. Dr. Harvir Singh would pick the mother daughter duo later in the evening. The routine made the family reach home by 9:00 at night. The exhaustion would kill them all but Dr. Harvir Singh and Mrs. Usha Nehwal never showed it to their daughter.
Rigorous training was an integral part for the initial years. Since, Saina was growing the training sessions would result in unbearable pain. She used to shriek in sleep many nights. Her mother would then massage legs with warm almond oil. This gave her strength to train the next morning. The stress also gave dark circles under eyes. This would have been a cause of worry for any other growing girl but Saina was extraordinary. She had falling in love with the game and everything it gave her. Saina liked to play, visit the courts, and win games.
Academics were definitely important. The scientist father aimed for good education and a bright career for his daughters. And Saina always dreamt of being a doctor despite of all the love and ardour she felt for the game. The couple made sure their daughter never aged behind studies.
The Under-10 District-level tournament came up the same year, 1999. It was held in Tirupati. Saina participated and won! Saina had been playing badminton for two months by then. I.R.D. Shirvani from the Godavari district was her opponent.
Saina beat Shirvani in straight sets. This was her first big victory. She won cash prize for Rs. 500. Saina gave her big earnings to her parents and dedicated the victory to them. Dr. Harvir Singh commemorated the occasion by taking his daughter to the Tirupati Balaji temple. He dedicated the victory of his daughter to the Almighty.
The Steady Winning Rituals
Saina’s badminton
practice during
childhood
After playing at the district level in the year 1999, Saina started climbing her ladder of success steadily. Winning at major badminton games gave her some relief in school too. Her teachers were not bothered about her reaching late in school or leaving early. Saina reached school late in the morning and left by 2:30 in the afternoon to be at the training. The schedule was envious for her classmates but not those who saw her rigorous and painful training sessions. Most of the time, she used to fall asleep on Dr. Harvir Singh’s scooter on her way to training after school. The exhaustion was too much for the little girl.
Luckily, Dr. Harvir Singh and Usha Nehwal understood the condition of their daughter and allowed her some freedom from studies. They didn’t put much pressure on her to study as much as she played. This allowed her to focus on game and she started participated in state tournaments at Under 12 and Under 14 levels.
Saina won most of these tournaments. Those, she lost made her feel really bad. Her mother would feel upset. Mrs. Usha Nehwal was Saina’s inspiration. She believed in her daughter’s capability and made it a point not to upset or demotivate her.
Within a short period of time, Saina’s life was surrounded by badminton. People used to wonder if she enjoyed a normal childhood. Surprisingly, the childhood was happier and glorious despite all the hard work she put in. She won many tournaments and always stood first in the class.
The only thing she missed as a child was ‘friendship’. Saina never had that kind of t
ime to make friends. Those, whom she played with and against were the only ones she used to interact with. But since they were rivals at the court, friendship was not possible after a certain level. Hence, Saina missed out on birthday parties, weekends and picnics. Saina believes in the adage ‘to win some, you lose some’. And now that she is the badminton star of the country, she doesn’t miss what she had lost years ago.
By the time Saina was in class 7, she started crossed state and national level tournaments. She was now playing internationally. This affected her studies and school attendance dropped steadily. Her major presence was felt at the international tournaments. Since, each tournament took about two weeks to finish, it was quite difficult for Saina to keep up with the pace.
Luckily, her teachers and principal understood her passion for the game and extended all the support they could. They helped the upcoming badminton star to catch up with the lessons. Her mathematics teacher helped her a lot in following up with the missed lectures and practicals. The P.T. teacher was more than encouraging. He always inspired Saina to make efforts and win medals in the tournaments.
The year 2001 entered with a big event in her life. Saina participated in the K.M. Munshi Memorial Badminton Tournament. This was an annual event held in her school. Saina was supposed to play at the All-India level and won the match.
Year 2002 was a glorious period in Saina’s life. In the month of July, she participated in the Hyderabad District Badminton Championships in about 6 categories:
• Under-13 Singles and doubles
• Under-16 Singles and doubles
• Under-19 Singles and doubles
Saina won the all!!!
Saina played at the national level. She went to play around 36 tournaments. The categories again comprised of:
• Under-13 Singles and doubles
• Under-16 Singles and doubles
• Under-19 Singles and senior women’s
Saina won about 28 gold medals and five silver medals within the third year of her game. This little girl was barely 12 years old then.
