Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal Read Free Page B

spirits of a young girl.
    Despite the loss, Saina was determined to focus on the next big tournament. Her eyes were set on the Commonwealth Games 2006. She actually hoped to play in the tournament. So, Saina prepared herself for the game.
    Aparna Popat was the main player in the tournament. Saina acted as a standby. Aparna being the senior-most player was assigned in every game. She got injured in one of the games. When the experts conformed that Aparna cannot play, Saina decided to contribute to the team. She informed her team coach Vimal Kumar about her willingness to play.
    Although, Vimal Kumar knew Saina was a novice in the international arena, he gave her the green signal. This was Saina’s first ever ‘big’ match in the international arena. The tournament was difficult but Saina managed to reach the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, Xing Aiying (Singapore) won the match.
    The team lost the tournament but it still earned a lot of popularity by winning a bronze. This was also the game where Saina got noticed as an international badminton player. Saina’s confidence was boosted to a great extent.
    Saina followed this success with the Phillippine Open tournament. It was a big tournament indeed and Saina won gold. This was the big moment in the young player’s life but no one was present from India to commemorate the event other than her coach Bhaskar Babu. None of the players made it past the preliminary rounds. They had left for Indonesia, Jakarta to participate in Djarum Indonesia Open, another tournament. Saina celebrated her victory all alone in her room.
    Saina won over Malaysian player Julia Wang. The World Number 66 player was beaten in straight sets. What’s more? The promising Indian player also won 9,000 USD. Unfortunately, Saina had little time to enjoy the money and nobody to join. Saina had to join the Indonesia team soon.
    Joining the Indonesian team was a difficult phase in this dedicated player’s life. She couldn’t get through with her tickets. Hence, they were to be cancelled and book again. So, she decided to make her way to Manila. From there, she headed towards Jakarta and then finally made it to Malaysia. The tour was exhausting and extremely stressful. The tour matters are handled by a team manager. However, this time Saina has to take care of everything.
    The exhausting long trip left with her no time to rest. This was also the reason she lost in the first round. The Indonesia Open started by stress and fatigue didn’t allow the player to have an upper hand on opponents. Saina wasn’t worried about this loss as she knew she had it her. And as a player, she knew victories and defeats were part of being in the court. But there was someone who had to do much about winning and losing tournaments more than Saina! It was the media – the same media that declared Saina as the rising sun of Indian badminton. Today, it didn’t take time to dash her down to the ground. The media had a lot to say about her defeat, the long tour, and mistakes she made.
    The incident taught Saina many lessons. She knew that every move she made was observed by the media. The badminton player was now supposed to focus on what she says, wears, thinks, and opinionated.
    After sometime, Saina had to participate in the Junior World Cup. The tournament was held at Seoul, Korea. Saina played well and made it to the finals. However, towards the end, she lost it to Wang Yihan. By this time, Saina’s career was at par with the top ranked badminton player in India, Aparna.
    The journey ahead had many more challenges. In 2007, Saina participated in the Malaysia Open. The start was smooth and she managed to reach the quarter-finals. She flew straight to Patna from Kuala Lumpur. Here, she participated in the Senior National Championships.
    In the month of March, Saina was supposed to play for a ‘big ticket’ game. It was the All England Tournament. But as a player, Saina lost it to the second round. The loss was disheartening to