Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal (2 page)

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 time 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.

Saina was growing and her ambition grew with her. She was in class 10th now. This is a crucial stage for every student’s life. In India, a child’s future is predicted by the numbers he or she scores in the board examinations. The pressure is killing. But for Saina, it was like any other examination that entered in her life with each new class she attended. This time around, Saina was away for an international tournament, ‘The Junior German’. She also participated in ‘The Dutch Open’.

She returned to India just twenty five days before the board examinations were scheduled! Of course, there was no time for her to study. But it was her duty to attend the exams and before she did, the cramming session started. In fact, she crammed the entire year’s portions within those twenty five days! Poor girl!

One of the worst moments during tenth standard exams were her cramming sessions during social studies paper. It was really tough and she couldn’t do it all on her own. So Dr. Harvir Singh and Usha Nehwal supported her. They helped her understand the lessons. The paper was more than a nightmare. Since, Dr. Harvir Singh knew the condition of his daughter, he accompanied her to the school and waited until Saina finished the paper.

Finally, the girl came out of the examination hall. Dr. Singh couldn’t wait to know how his daughter fared in the exams. He asked Saina to narrate the answers she wrote for the paper. But Dr. Harvir Singh was shocked. He told Saina that she will fail.

The entire family waited for the results. This was a difficult moment for everyone. But all’s well that ends well. Finally, the results were out and Saina passed her exams with an aggregate of 65 percent. And Dr. Harvir Singh was surprised to know that his daughter scored 75 percent in social studies, highest in any subject!