TOUCH OF CLASS

SAINA NEHWAL, THE ‘TENDULKAR OF BADMINTON’. THE FORMER WORLD NO. 1 LOOKS TO RIO, AND ANOTHER BATTLE FOR TOP SPOT

of the many things Saina Nehwal is known for—her net-play, her smashes, the tricoloured hair pins—perhaps the most talked about is her obsession with China. India’s neighbour from the east has been a thorn in Nehwal’s side from early in her career. Not because of some grand cross-border conspiracy but because of the assembly line of badminton stars that China unleashes upon the world on a regular basis.

The only player who has consistently taken on, and sometimes overcome, China’s nursery of talent, Nehwal is a rare phenomenon in modern women’s badminton. And it is this celebrated ‘Saina vs China’ rivalry that could once again decide her fate in the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she heads after a bronze in London 2012 to at least repeat that performance or, achieve what she is desperately seeking, two notches higher.

Over the last four years, Nehwal has consistently grown in stature. She has been crowned the world No. 1, albeit for a short while, and she’s emerged as one of the talismans of world badminton, having already done enough to leave her stamp on the sport long after she calls it a day. But traversing the distance from bronze to gold will not be easy, and Nehwal knows that full well. “The challenges are many. What is important is to think only of badminton...day in, day out,” she says.

In several individual sports, the draw can often prove to be a dampener, and it depends on whom she runs into when—particularly her new Achilles’ heel from Chinese Taipei. “After the London Olympics, I became No. 1, won the silver in the World Championships and I beat some top players I’d never defeated before. There is, however, one Chinese Taipei puzzle, Tai Tzu-ying. Cracking her may well be among my tasks,” Nehwal concedes, before the regular battle with the Chinese commences.

In the past six face-offs between Nehwal and Tzuying, the score reads 0-6 in favour of the player from Taiwan. Nehwal does best against opponents whom she has studied and prepared for. But it can never be so with Tzu-ying. “Hers is a free-spirited game with no set pattern and the deception is unpredictable. This is a bit of a block for Saina, but she can overcome it,” says former international Aparna Popat. If she does, a second Olympic medal will be well within reach.

Since the last Olympics, when she was coached by Pullela Gopichand, Nehwal made a switch to Vimal Kumar (a former two-time French Open winner), and relocated from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. “It was a significant shift and necessary,” says Nehwal. “An individualised trainer makes all the difference because in play course corrections have to be made all the time.”

“Saina is very clear about her requirements and understands the importance of varying the pace. She is doing specific workouts on court with emphasis on responding to tactics employed by her potential rivals,” says Vimal Kumar. “If you have to win an Olympic medal you should be prepared to beat everyone and not think too much about the draw.”

It is easy to see that she is pushing harder than ever to go the extra mile, and a video of one of her training sessions, in which she was hitting against four male players on the other side of the court, was but a small glimpse into the lengths she’s gone to order to get herself in top physical shape for the ultimate challenge.

She’s been given several sobriquets in the run-up to the Games, including one by India’s top men’s players Parupalli Kashyap, who called her the ‘Tendulkar of Badminton’. Nehwal has indeed done enough to earn that tag in the context of Indian badminton. Now can she take it to the next level on the world stage? It’ll all come down to how she does in Rio.

“I want to play aggressively like I did in the Australian Open Super Series. Adjusting to playing conditions in Rio is key”