It’s been 15 years, and one day more, since an Indian first resurfaced on the international badminton circuit to win a major title. Except there wasn’t much of the ubiquitous Twitter back in 2009 to hail in unison what had been a landmark achievement in a then-fringe sport that barely made Sunday Finals Day headlines.
You even had to work out a way to convince a hotel telephone operator sitting in Indonesia to connect an ISD landline to the player’s room to get a reaction from the newly crowned champion. In 2009, the hotel staff needed Saina Nehwal’s name spelled out. When she made three more Indonesia Open finals subsequently in 2010, 2011 and 2012, winning the last two, both officials at Istora Senayan and hospitality attendants at her team hotels, gladly knew who we were talking about.
It was in those iconic Junes a dozen years ago, when rains would lash Indian western coasts and signal a beginning of a new season, that India laid its foundation of the current high-profile sport. Her consistency at Indonesia rivalled the punctuality of the onset of monsoons back then. Both Indian badminton bereft of singles Tour titles and the greater Indian population with far bigger worries than sporting results, crave those showers in these parched times.
Neither the country, nor Saina back in 2009 though were completely aware of how historical her first Indonesia Open, on par with All England in gradation of tournaments, was. And Saina Nehwal would calmly shear it off any glamour in what was a low-key sport. “I knew I could win the title beating the Chinese, but I was focussed not on whether I could do it, rather on how to,” the then Indian world No.8 had said.
The winner of 10 Super Series titles eventually — there’s really few Tour events except All England, Malaysia, Japan and Korea that she hasn’t won — achieved that boggling consistency keeping her goals focussed and practical. She was obsessed with winning titles, but crucially, could break it down into tiny targets to achieve, and dream higher and higher. It was always figuring out ‘how’ rather than wasting her energies on ‘if’, ever since mother Usharani told her she had stamina and strokes and was “just like those Chinese girls.”
“What’s to fear?” Usharani chided her before the final. But the mother also imparted the most important lesson soon after Saina won the title, something that’s not said often in an India that plainly splurges on sport. “She should always remember that unlike lesser fortunate athletes, she’s getting good coaching, facilities and diet. There’s no excuse to lose, and as a top player there’s a standard of play she will be expected to maintain.”
On that 22 June, Saina picked a winner’s check of USD 18,750 (INR 9,15,375), a fraction of sponsorship deals that open up for lesser achieving athletes now. But the advice to maintain a playing standard stood the shuttler in good stead, as she calmly went about aiming for titles in subsequent years.
China, Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand were all conquered, and medals at Olympics, Asiad, Worlds and Uber Cup, besides two CWG titles would follow.
Against the top ranked Chinese Lin Wang, when Saina trailed 9-18 in the first set, the 19-year-old had stuck her tongue out when spraying a smash wide. But it had been her absolute fearlessness and stubborn will that saw her turn the tables as she won in three – 12-21, 21-18, 21-9, the Chinese quite plainly rattled by the second set aggression.
PV Sindhu went one better on her in years that followed with her World title and bunch of medals. And the likes of Kidambi Srikanth and now Satwik-Chirag reached World No.1 and won memorable titles. But none in singles has matched the sheer consistency of Saina on the circuit, year-after-year, before she faded off.
Saina’s foray into politics in a hugely polarised country, cost her some of the unanimous adoration she got in her early years. Social media, never stepping back on cancelling those they disdain, didn’t merely stop at pointing out their criticisms of her statements. But found it convenient to stay indifferent to her achievements in years that followed.
It was easy to overwrite her wonder years with what later shuttlers won. And there was no dearth of Fb & Twitter Uncles who took pains to stress on how Chinese Xin Wang got injured in the London Games bronze playoff, to give India its first Olympics medal in badminton. But a crucially underrated quality was ignored — Saina had stayed fit to pick a medal from an Olympic semifinal that had 3 other Chinese. The ascent till there made her medal hard-earned.
Saina’s peak
Saina in her 2009-2015 peak, managed to string together 10 titles and at least 5 worthy Games and Worlds medals, playing a hugely physical game, with her style hinging on sheer fitness. She wasn’t the tallest, battled the tendency to put on weight, wasn’t scouted out showing great footwork or deception skills and hence had to develop strokes and court coverage from scratch, and worked mighty hard. Few months before the Rio Games, she was at her peak fitness and looked good for a medal, but aggravated a niggle from over-training, and cruelly missed out.
Her Rio injury nightmare, like Carolina Marin’s before Tokyo, and the litany of anxious niggles — dodgy knees for An Se Young and Tai Tzu Ying, ankle for Chen Yufei, back for Akane Yamaguchi heading into Paris, point to just how fickle sport can be, in matters of fitness. Saina Nehwal stayed fit and earned her bronze, at a time when Indians had won nothing at Olympics. Year after year, she battled in Indonesia winning a mighty title each June, and barely anyone noticed till she was playing finals on Sunday.
It would have been easier to flip past pages of her history, now that new names have emerged. Except not many current shuttlers win as consistently as her in a hardy sport. It’s acknowledged in her playing fraternity ungrudgingly. But did 22 June 2009 with Saina beating a top Chinese to win the massive Indonesia Open at Istora even happen, if it wasn’t celebrated on Twitter?
File image of India's Saina Nehwal during the India Open 2023 event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. (PHOTO: BAI) 
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