Trailblazers lead the charge in India’s sporting revolution
NEW DELHI: The three women on stage were as different as chalk and cheese, or as different as badminton is to athletics is to shooting. What unites Heena Sidhu, PV Sindhu and Hima Das, however, is that they’re all champions and trailblazers not afraid to speak their mind.
They are holding the fort during a phase when, with infrastructure support better than it has ever been, noncricket sport in India is at the cusp of a revolution.
Das said she never ran after medals, as if it was the most natural thing to do. “I chase time,” said the 400m under-20 world champion on Day 2 of the 16th Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. That, she said, was because saving even a microsecond in her sport is tough.
At the panel discussion with Sidhu and Sindhu, Das was what Ranveer Singh was in the session featuring him and actor Deepika Padukone – carefree and with the most quotable quotes. Asked how she manages the last burst of fire to come from behind and win, Das said: “Yeh Hima ka style hai (this is Hima’s style)!”
Shuttler Sindhu, the only Indian to win a silver medal at the Olympics and Asian Games in badminton, didn’t blink an eyelid when she said her relationship with compatriot Saina Nehwal, who broke the glass ceiling with an Olympic bronze in 2012, was not as warm as what she shared with Carolina Marin and Nozomi Okuhara. So what if Spain’s Marin beat her to the Olympic gold in 2016 and Japanese Okuhara beat her in the 2017 world championships final.
“They are very aggressive players but off the court, they are good friends,” said Sindhu.
Sidhu, the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked world no 1, prioritises a world championship medal over one in the Olympics.
“Winning a world championship medal is my number one dream. The Olympics will come after that.” This, said Sidhu, was because winning a medal in the world championships is tougher. Like Sindhu and Nehwal, Sidhu too has a formidable younger rival in Manu Bhaker.
But Sidhu sees her mirror image in Bhaker, and wants more of her kind. “I told Manu ‘you remind me of myself when I was your age.’ ... I feel there is an invisible connect with her. But one Manu Bhaker is not enough.”
Sidhu is 29, Sindhu 23 and Das 18 – they virtually represent three generations of the sport. Their rise to stardom also reflects the positive change in the Indian attitude towards Olympic sports. Das sums up the free spirit with “Mon jai (as my mind feels, in Assamese), it is my favourite tagline; I use it in almost all social media posts.”