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“A lot of legends, a lot of people have come before me. But this is my time.”
For a country that has remained obsessed with the exploits of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, it had almost seemed next to impossible that just a few years hence, a timid warrior would emerge from the state of Hyderabad to mark her name in a sport that hardly brought forth with it waves of excitement.
A legacy to beckon
As the 19-year-old set foot on the court that had been graced by the likes of Pulella Gopichand and Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal would never have imagined in her wildest dreams.
That a time would emerge when she would grow on to become one of the biggest woman sport stars in India, that too in a sport that had hardly had a successful tryst with the Indian citizens.
From a bright prodigy to one of the legends on the badminton sphere, Nehwal’s stories remains one of astute admiration and pride. Her journey has seen hysterical highs with abysmal lows; painstaking injuries and tear-wrenching comebacks with phases of inconsistencies following periods of insane victories.
Winning the gold at Gold Coast
Even when newbie PV Sindhu managed to relegate her to the shadows, Nehwal, in her own silent way, emerged to capture the audiences to prove that superstars have their own niche – breaching which is no mean feat.
Despite the constant threats from Sindhu, Nehwal managed to hold her own and gave glimpses of her skills when she turned up to represent India in the mixed team events in the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast.
Playing with a heavily strapped right foot for a major part of the challenge, Nehwal showed no signs of aging as she turned up at her absolute best. Against Singapore’s Jia Min Yeo in the semi-finals, she took the onus on herself to guide the team to the summit clash with a straight-set win, after the men’s doubles team had suffered a shock defeat.
Up next were the Malaysians in the finals. With the odds stacked highly against them – for the Indians had never won a gold in the event ever – the battle promised to be intense and severe.
After the mixed doubles team and Srikanth Kidambi had won their respective bouts, the men’s pair of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were unable to hand India an unassailable lead and it was left to Nehwal to help India steer clear of a fifth match.
The game against Soniia Cheah was going to be Nehwal’s sixth match in the last five days but even before the talks of fatigue swivelled around, the 28-year-old kept her calm to emerge on the bright side of a draining clash.
A 21-11, 19-21, 21-9 win only highlighted the importance of experience and as the stalwart walked out for the gold medals, the sense of achievement remained unparalleled. India’s golden girl had done it. Again.
Controversies galore
“There is so much issue going on with my father... if his accreditation is no cleared as an official I am not going to play the matches…” (sic)
Yes, the player who has just helped her team win a historical gold medal had threatened to pull out of the Commonwealth Games just a day before the marquee event was to take place.
Reason? Her father, Harvir Singh had not been allowed to enter the Games village even after he had been confirmed as an extra official by the Indian contingent.
Stating that her father’s support remained crucial to her performances, Nehwal had shot back an angry letter to the Indian Olympic Association, threatening to pull out of the event if her father was not given permission.
While Harvir Singh had been allowed to travel to the Games, as had Sindhu’s parents, the IOA had explicitly stated that the former would NOT be entitled to a bed in the village and could merely travel if Nehwal paid for his expenses.
Upon reaching Gold Coast, Nehwal’s fury knew no bounds as she lashed out, even bringing the Commonwealth Games Federation into the issue.
This matter, which was eventually sorted out, brought forth with it several bitter realities as far as Nehwal was concerned.
Firstly, the very fact that she had threatened to pull out of the event for an issue as small as not having a bedding for her father in the Village, reeks not only of unpatriotic feelings but also of her superstar attitude that does not really warrant a place in the sports world.
If indeed, Harvir Singh had not been allowed entry, would she have left her squad in tatters? For any athlete, no honour is ever greater than playing for the tiranga and hearing the Jana Gana Mana on the grand stage, and when Nehwal knew that she did have an opportunity to do just that, would she have left it all behind just because her whims were not met?
Is that how important playing for India remains to her? If indeed, ‘fulfil my demands and I shall turn out for the nation’, is her motto, then sad to say, it is not a very pleasing one indeed.
This is however not the first time that Nehwal has been amid an angry tantrum-throwing. In 2016, when she wasn’t nominated for the Padma Bhushan awards, she had sent in a tweet to the Sports Ministry, comparing her performances to that of wrestler Sushil Kumar’s, who was meant to win the third highest civilian award in India, the Padma Bhushan, that year.
Expecting an angry backlash, minister Sarbananda Sonowal relented and included her name in the coveted list as a ‘special case’. The incidents in 2016 and then again, this week, do not seem very different.
While Nehwal, many would say, has earned the right to behave in this manner due to her many accolades, how far is pushing it too far? While she was fighting to get her father into the Games Village, the Indian weightlifting contingent that has done India mighty proud in the Games does not have room to accommodate even a physio.
Akrant Saxena, the physio, has to thus, work with the players only with a day pass and in the training area, much to the disgust of Sahdev Yadav, the general secretary of the Indian Weightlifting Federation.
“Some star players (read: Saina Nehwal) get to have their parents in the village. Officials have their wives and children. But there is no place for a physio.”
A bad aftertaste
It is true that Nehwal remains one of the most glorious players from India in the last decade, but such comments and deeds, in which the individual being takes over the country and the sport only leave an aftertaste.
Though the gold has now been won, the realisation that the very force behind the team victory could have been absent for a mere reason, takes away from the charm and the hard work that she and her teammates have put in.
