Saina Nehwal
We may not want to admit it to others, but if you’d heard the name Saina even 6 months ago most of us would have said “who” Sania Mirza?
Now this 20 year old has shown her entire nation, there’s a difference between SAINA and SANIA and quite an alarming difference in fact.
Saina Nehwal is a fast emerging Badminton player who has recently made her country proud. She recently won the Hong Kong Open Super Series beating China’s Shixian Wang 15-21, 21-16, 21-17 in the women’s singles final on Sunday. The Hong Kong Open was the fourth Super Series title for Saina, she won her first Super Series at the Indonesian Open last year.
In September of this year she missed out on two important events, China Masters Super Series 2010 and Japan Super Series 2010 because she wanted to be fully prepared for the Common Wealth Games 2010 in New Delhi, which she ended up winning a gold medal in.
She unlike other sports personalities has her priorities set straight, upon being asked several times whether she would be interested in acting in Bollywood flicks, her answer was “Totally No”. She takes her fitness very seriously and does not seem perturbed with the kind of adulation she has been getting of late.
What is clearly visible besides her maturity, down to earth nature and respect for her coach Pullela Gopichand, is also that she takes her sport very seriously, Saina at the beginning of 2010 decided that she wouldn’t ponder too much about rankings, she would only concentrate on her game and strategise accordingly, this seems to be working well for her.
Saina Nehwal won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna on the 29th of August 2010 which is the highest national sporting award. Saina Nehwal is the new poster girl of Indian Sports. She has a very bright future, hopefully this dream run will continue.
Tags: Badminton, Hong Kong Open Super Series, India, Indian Sports, Pullela Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, Shixian Wang, Sports, Sports India, Super Series
