Saina Nehwal - An Upcoming Star Of Indian Badminton

by Abdul Rauf Liaqat
(Islamabad, Pakistan)

If you want to reach to the Professional level in any career, it requires a lot of commitment, struggle and hard work. It is well known that Badminton is a very physically demanding game that requires a great deal of strength and fitness to compete at the top international levels. Same goes with the career of Saina Nehwal.


Saina Nehwal is a Khel Ratna badminton player, currently ranked 6 in the world by Badminton World Federation. She was born on March 17, 1990. She was born in Hisar, Haryana and spent her entire life in Hyderabad. She is influenced by her father and stepped into the life of Badminton in December 1998.

Her father and mother both of them were former badminton champion in Haryana. Her mother Usha Nehwal was once the top ranked player (women) in the history of Indian Badminton.

In 2002 sports brand Yonex offer to sponsor Saina’s kit, from there her status and ranking improved and the sponsorships increased.

Saina came up with the great spirit and introduced herself as a well known player in the history of Badminton. In the start of her career she was the under 19 champion and created the history by winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice and become the first player to do so.

In 2006 Saina stepped up internationally in the world of Badminton and became the first Indian Woman to win a 4-Star Tournament. Entering the tournament as a 86th seeded and then stun many of the top seeded players including Xu Huaiwen was a great honor for her.

In the same year, Saina was a runner up in BWF World Junior Championships where she lost a hard struggling match against the top seed Chinese Wang Yihan. But still she didn't give up and keep working for she must win a title and at last in 2008 she became the first Indian Woman to win the World Junior Badminton Championships by defeating Japanese Sayaka Sato in a straight game of 21-9, 21-18.

Saina has also been named “The Most Promising Player in 2008 as She reached the world super series semifinals in the month of December 2008.

Saina Nehwal made history on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta. Saina won her second career Super Series title by winning the Singapore Open title on June 20, 2010.

She completed a hat-trick in the same year by winning the Indonesian Open on June 27, 2010. This win resulted in her rise to 3rd ranking and then to No. 2. Later in the same year she also won Hong Kong Super Series on December 12, 2010. The year 2010 is considered the most important and fruitful year of her life.

On October 14, 2010 she won gold medal against Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 19–21, 23–21, 21–13 in CWG Delhi and made an unforgettable moment in India's badminton history.

Earlier this year, Saina Nehwal had gave an interview to 'timeswellness' in which she had talked about how she keeps fit. She had shared some information about her diet for strength, and also about how physical fitness be accompanied by mental strength and well-being.

She also shared her daily fitness schedule in that interview and it was something like this if I'm not wrong.

• Get up at 6:00 AM
• Have a good breakfast. (her main meal)
• Go to Gopichand Badminton Academy
• Practice badminton skills from 7-11 AM
• Come back home for Lunch.
• Take a short nap.
• Return back to academy at 3:30 PM
• Practice for 3 hours till 7 PM.
• Have a glass of juice after practice.
• Followed by Dinner
• Then Relax by listening to Hindi film music or watching TV (likes to watch others play)
• Practice Yog Nidra (form of yoga meditation)

If you look at the badminton players in the world today, everyone of the player has strong legs, high flexibility, perfect body structure and high endurance. And if any badminton player don't have these attributes, he/she can’t go on keeping the game alive.

Saina's badminton success, her new blonde look, her brand endorsements all attract media attention, her honest hard work and commitment that she has had towards the tough training schedule for several years.

It is this dedication that has made Saina Nehwal the kind of player that she is.


Picture source: Google Image