Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal (21 page)

It is a positive sign that Saina is confident enough. This will improve her chances to win against any of the Chinese players. Since, Saina has defeated five or six of the Chinese by now, she has gained a lot of confidence with each victory in her credit.

The spirited Nehwal showed her brilliance on court in all matches at Wembley Arena and proved that she has attained a highest level when it comes to technical and tactical play of the game.

The spirited Nehwal had also been working extremely hard under the supervision of Pullela Gopichand, who is the former All England Champion and current national coach of India.

The girl proved her mettle at the Indonesia Open Premier Super Series 2012 in Jakarta when she outplayed China’s Li Xuerui, the player who has recently won the gold medal at Olympic Games. This gesture clearly indicates filling of gap between the skills of both countries.

Nehwal is determined to put up good show in all of the upcoming events as she has got a greater level of confidence after winning a medal at London Olympics.

Saina’s Non Badminton Interests

Like most of us, Saina has many interests other than badminton. Here is a glimpse of what catches her fancy when she is not playing.

Reading

Saina likes to spend time reading. Since, she does not get much time to indulge in long hour reading sessions, she buys something that catches her fancy. Her quick read indulgences include Indian film magazines such as
Filmfare
and
Stardust
. She also loves to read comics.
Tom and Jerry
series is her all time favourites. Saina also pick up books and journals on sports that keeps her updated with recent happenings in the industry. She also loves to read self-help and yoga books.

Since, Saina is a frequent traveller, she keeps stock of some newspapers on sports and other books of her interests. She also likes to play Sudoku in the newspaper.

Sketching

Saina loved sketching since she was a child. This talented badminton player once represented her school at the national level in a drawing competition. Even today, she likes to pick up a sketch book and draw whatever comes to her mind. This is one of the ways she likes to kill time.

Music

Saina is a huge fan of Bollywood music. This is something that keeps her engaged and entertained all the while.

Gadgets

Saina cannot live without her cell phones. In fact, she has a fetish for collecting these amazing gadgets. Her favourite phone is the Apple iPhone which she uses the most. She also carries a Sony Handycam whenever she is travelling. She prefers it because her sports analyst uses it to record her games. Other favourite gadgets she has around her is a laptop (the MacBook Air) which she uses to watch reruns of her performances. And last but not the least, the iPad is her most favourite gadgets which is loaded with wonderful features including Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Sumo Wrestling, Talking Tom, and Tennis.

Movies

Saina Nehwal is a huge fan of Bollywood films. She tries her best to catch up with the latest releases as soon as she can. Her favourite movie is the Shahrukh Khan-Kajol starrer
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
. She was just 5 years old when the movie was released and the magic the movie managed to create among the audience was marvellous. She has seen this movie over a hundred times.
Hum Apke Hain Kaun
is also a memorable movie as she watched it with her entire family.

Saina Nehwal and Spirituality

The secret to Saina’s victory is definitely her dedication and never-say-die spirit. So is there something up above that keeps her going constantly? What’s her connection with the Supreme Power? Does Saina believe in spirituality?

Well, the term ‘spirituality’ is a huge word for Saina. She doesn’t know what it actually means. Hence, it is not possible for this sport star to tell whether or not she is spiritual.

Does she believe in the fact that the world is ruled by a Supereme Power? Does she believe in God?

Of course, Saina is a firm believer in God. Although, she is not much into practicing any rituals (she doesn’t have a fixed schedule), she believes that there’s someone up there to look forward to, to thank for all the favors, and turn to when things go wrong.

Nehwal doesn’t really make any special effort to visit places of worship or try to spend personal time with God through mediation or chanting mantras. She also refrains from wearing lucky charms to get somewhere.

Saina Nehwal with her mother offering
prayers to
Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala

So, how does this young badminton champion keep calm and regain strength in the times of adversity? After all, she is a sport star and all she does is highlighted in the media, people talk about her and each action of hers become the national news. How does she cope with the pressure, expectations, criticism, failure and the stress?

Saina tries to win through her adversities via exercising. She works out to burn off her anxieties and worries. According to Saina, hard work and devotion to one’s profession are the greatest virtues. This is the philosophy she lives by.

Nehwal admits that her parents are not religious or ritualistic. This is also the reason she is not much into traditional rituals and spiritual acts when it comes to getting connected with the Almighty.

So, how can one get connected to God without chanting mantras and doing regular
pujas
?

Saina Nehwal knows the answer. She is very clear about it. According to her, not bearing any ill-will against anyone is the biggest virtue in life. This is what her parents taught her. Saina follows this religiously.

Saina is proud of the fact that both her parents have been state-level badminton champions. Her entire family has lived the sport. Nehwal cannot imagine a middle-class family spending half their monthly income on their eight-year-old daughter’s training. And that too, without being sure if the gamble would pay off. But Saina’s parents did this.

The Almighty helped! She belives that God gave them the strong will to do it all.

Saina remember her parent’s struggle to make her reach to the top that started early when she was just eight years old. She had to wake early and head to the stadium which was 20 km away. After two hours of practice, her father would drop her to school on his way to work.

Many a times, she would often fall asleep on these journeys, which prompted her mother to accompany them for the next three months. The major chunk of these 18 years of her life has gone into practising and playing. She feels exercising is the simplest way to end all worries and set her mind at rest. It also helps her unwind and refreshes her spirits enough for the following day.

The young badminton champion admits that many a time, it looks like whatever she has achieved, all at the age of 18, has been the fruit of God’s love for her. The girl also feels that she is God’s chosen one. She always focuses on setting goals and this is what she feels she should be doing in order to keep winning games.

This girl feels that she has ironed out a number of physical flaws in the past and this is time to work on her mental make-up, especially when it comes to the international circuit. She feels that even after gaining huge leads, she is sometimes unable to hang on to them and finish the job.

Saina is thankful to the Almighty for whatever he has showered on her. The badminton champion is proud of the fact that she is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarter-finals at the Olympics. However, she is not satisfied with this rank. Her focus at oresent is to win the much coveted Olympic gold. She feels that her dedication to sports and the hard work she puts in makes her worthy of Olympic Gold and she will definitely win it one day.

Her Visit to Lord Venkateswara Swamy Temple

Saina’s visit to the Lord Venkateswara
Swamy Temple with her parents

The young and immensely talented badminton player was finally seen and captured by the media offering special prayers at Lord Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, Tirupati on Sep 16, 2012.

The badminton player arrived at the holy site of the Lord Balaji during VIP break period. After darshan, she was presented Srivari prasadams and sacred silk cloth by TTD officials at Ranganayakula Mandapam inside the temple complex.

Saina had a word with the reporters confirming her never ending love for badminton and that she would continue to play badminton no matter what. The player also offered prayers at Vayulingeswara Temple and participated in Rahu-Ketu
puja
at Srikalahasti Temple, about 40 km from Tirupati.

Nehwal also mentioned that her victory at the London Olympics could not have been possible without the blessings of Lord Venkateswara. Her visit to the site is a gesture to offer her thanks giving obeisance to the Lord.

Famous Quotes by Saina Nehwal
and Eminent Badminton Players

1.
“I am working hard and performances are coming. Now, that I am number 2, I will definitely reach number 1.”

– Saina Nehwal

2.
“And I thought this time: ‘no more leading and losing – just win the game – that’s it’.”

– Saina Nehwal

3.
“A champion has to be disciplined by practicing regularly in the right manner, respect coaches and most importantly ought to have self-belief.”