Taking Shuttle to success
Saina Nehwal, India’s golden girl has been busy making badminton a fairly well used word in Indian households. There has been a sudden spurt in the number of people taking up badminton as a serious course for the future, thanks to the marvelous success that Saina has enjoyed.
For a girl who started playing as early as the age of 9, Saina won her first tournament in 2006 in Philippines and became the first Indian girl to win the four star badminton event.
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The 21-year-old girl from Hyderabad has been going from strength to strength, shaking Chinese domination by notching three titles at Open grand Prix Gold, Singapore Super Series and Indonesian Super Series finals last year. Climbing to her best career international ranking of no.2, she won the Commonwealth Games Gold medal and the Hong-Kong super series.
If words of former badminton ace, Mr. Xiong Guabao are to be believed, then Saina Nehwal could be the one that brings down the reign of the Chinese and the manifestation of the new era in Badminton.
In the last six months, Saina has won just one title but her defeats against lower-ranked players have questioned her consistency. The consistency question rang true and deep with her loss in the second round of the Singapore Open. Saina Nehwal’s ranking dropped from number four to number six.
Although she bounced back from the defeat by reaching the finals of the Indonesian Open, it was not enough to save her from the drop in her rankings. As far as opinions go, she has almost everyone convinced. National coach Pullela Gopichand brushed off her defeat and expressed satisfaction at her current performance.
The rise of Saina Nehwal has also exposed the talent pool of Badminton in India with the emergence of Ashwini Ponnappa, Parupalli Kashyap and Anurag Thakkar. In the words of Gopichand, all of the mentioned have the talent and potential to emerge as world-class players if given proper training and coaching facilities.
Let’s just say that badminton in India will go a long way and will become a formidable side if given proper training and coaching facilities.
For a girl who started playing as early as the age of 9, Saina won her first tournament in 2006 in Philippines and became the first Indian girl to win the four star badminton event.
The 21-year-old girl from Hyderabad has been going from strength to strength, shaking Chinese domination by notching three titles at Open grand Prix Gold, Singapore Super Series and Indonesian Super Series finals last year. Climbing to her best career international ranking of no.2, she won the Commonwealth Games Gold medal and the Hong-Kong super series.
If words of former badminton ace, Mr. Xiong Guabao are to be believed, then Saina Nehwal could be the one that brings down the reign of the Chinese and the manifestation of the new era in Badminton.
In the last six months, Saina has won just one title but her defeats against lower-ranked players have questioned her consistency. The consistency question rang true and deep with her loss in the second round of the Singapore Open. Saina Nehwal’s ranking dropped from number four to number six.
Although she bounced back from the defeat by reaching the finals of the Indonesian Open, it was not enough to save her from the drop in her rankings. As far as opinions go, she has almost everyone convinced. National coach Pullela Gopichand brushed off her defeat and expressed satisfaction at her current performance.
The rise of Saina Nehwal has also exposed the talent pool of Badminton in India with the emergence of Ashwini Ponnappa, Parupalli Kashyap and Anurag Thakkar. In the words of Gopichand, all of the mentioned have the talent and potential to emerge as world-class players if given proper training and coaching facilities.
Let’s just say that badminton in India will go a long way and will become a formidable side if given proper training and coaching facilities.
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