In India when most of us are romancing with cricket there are brave ones who are ploughing a lonely furrow in their respective disciplines and their rare brilliance hardly gets them rave reviews or that kind of coverage in the media which is solely reserved for cricket, cricketers and cricket-related happenings. When Vishwanathan Anand wins the World Championship the whole of India goes after him the whole hog for a few days and then relapses into its old habit of over-hyping cricket once again. The step-motherly treatment that is meted out to the achievers in other spheres was evident when P.T.Usha, the Golden Girl of Indian athletics was treated so shabbily that she nearly broke down.

 

In recent years the exploits of a quiet Hydrabadi girl has taken the badminton girl by storm. I am pointing to badminton player Saina Nehwal's stellar rise in the world of badminton. She has chosen her badminton racquet to do all the talking for her. And the last few months has seen Saina at her very best. Many great badminton players have left their marks in the history of Indian Badminton beginning with great Nandu Natekar who won the Men's Singles and Doubles National Championships a dozen times. He was followed by a few outstanding badminton players like Prakash Padukone and pullela Gopichand. Both of whom had the distinction of winning the All England Badminton Championship.

 

Saina Nehwal who hails from Haryana, took to badminton at an early age and her father who is a scientist working in a central government in the city of Hyderabad. Both of her parents were former badminton champions in Haryana. She never shied away from hard work and rigourous training. And it did not take her too long to catch the attention of the sporting world. Her current rank in the world is sixth. She hold the rare honour of being the first badminton player to figure in a quarter-final match in the singles at the Bejing Olympics. She is also the first woman to win a Super-Series tournament. She is an inspiration for thousands of budding sportsmen and sportswomen of the country and is expected to scale many more heights in her career in future.


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