Shuttle queen

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She’s fit, she’s on a roll and raring to have a go at the Olympics. Fresh from her conquest of Indonesia, the queen of Indian badminton, Saina Nehwal, has her sights set firmly on winning a gold medal at the quadrennial event in London, set to begin next month. That said, however, Saina refuses to look too far ahead and says she is focused on getting her training right over the next five weeks. “The Indonesia Open Superseries is a very big tournament and I’m very happy to have won it for a third time, but the Olympic Games are a different prospect altogether. All the other players would have put the past behind them and will start afresh in London. I’ll be doing the same,” asserted Saina, after her return to Hyderabad.

Saina, who chose to give the ongoing Singapore Open Superseries a miss, will begin her training for the Games from Wednesday. Playing any international tournament takes a lot out of a player, physically as well as mentally but the last two weeks had been especially tough on Saina. To start with, she was a bundle of nerves ahead of the Thailand Open. “I hadn’t played too well at the India Open back in April so that was playing on my mind,” she said. “However, I regained my confidence as I progressed.”

She barely had time to savour the Bangkok triumph as she boarded the flight to Jakarta the very next day. The next five days witnessed Saina notch up several astonishing victories, none more incredible than her quarterfinal battle against Shixian Wang, the World No.4 . In a match that lasted 100 minutes, perhaps the longest singles match ever in badminton history, Saina defeated Wang. It was an important victory in the current context as it sends a message across the world that the Chinese can be beaten.

“I hope I never play in a match like that ever again,” she quipped. “It was extremely tiring. I had almost collapsed on the court out of exhaustion,” recalled Saina, whose stock is currently at an all-time high. Every victory she registers only goes on to enhance the value of Brand Saina and she is only too aware of that. “In a country where cricket rules the roost, I’m incredibly lucky to have tasted such success in my sport. It’s our sponsors and our endorsements that we survive on,” Saina said, adding, “I’m also very fortunate that so many people like me.”

“Like” is, perhaps, an understatement, for Saina is widely seen as one of the most charming and better looking female sportspersons in the country, though she has always chosen to underplay her looks. She has “If people feel that I look good, then I’m very happy about it, especially as I don’t really focus on my looks. I suppose my on-court performances also help my image,” Saina said, flashing the smile that adorns many an advertisement hoarding. However, when asked is she was nursing any acting ambitions, Saina specified that it’s currently badminton and nothing else that takes top priority for her. “Films are a totally different line of work and I realise acting may not be my cup of tea. The most important thing for me right now is badminton.”