Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Photo: Vipin Chandran

Testing times Saina Nehawal

She is aware that the Games are the “most prestigious and demanding” and that it is not going to be an easy outing.

Under the guidance of Pullela Gopichand, former All England champion and now national coach, Saina, World No. 27, is working hard on smoothening some of the rough edges in her game. Interestingly, Gopichand’s wife Lakshmi was the first Andhra woman ever to qualify for Olympics in any discipline – when she got the entry in 1996 Atlanta Olympics badminton. And, now Saina is emulating that feat!

Saina, who won the Phillipines Open title about two years ago but nothing big subsequently, is aware that the mega event demands high level of fitness.

“Yes, that is one area of focus but the emphasis will be on overall improvement,” she says. “It would be too much to expect anything dramatic about my chances in the Olympics. All that I plan is to take the event round by round,” she says.

“There will be pressure. But if I start thinking about that, my game might collapse,” she adds.

“The recent India Open Grand Prix championship in Hyderabad was very useful in my preparations for the Olympics,” Saina pointed out. “Watching some of the best players must have made her assess objectively her own strengths and weaknesses. And, she will be working on them,” says Gopichand.

“All that we can do right now is train her in the best possible manner in the run-up to the Olympics but at the same time try to improve in the areas of concern,” he adds.

His hopes of a medal from Saina and also Anup Sridhar, the only other Indian to qualify for the Olympics, rests on this point: “Since Olympics features the mandatory Continental quota unlike the star events of WBF, the Indians might win a medal if they play against weak players in the preliminary rounds. And, then score one or two wins against the big names.”

The national coach confesses that the Olympics demands high levels of preparation — mentally, physically and game-wise. “The aura can make some of the best players get carried away. You require composure to feel at home and have your feet on the ground,” he says.

For Saina, it has been a noteworthy progress from the Fateh Maidan Stadium where she was first spotted by SAAP coach Goverdhan, and later trained by Dronacharya S. M. Arif, before moving over to Gopi’s Academy. She is now a star in her own right.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail