Saina Nehwal – the modern symbol of a traditional Indian woman
India has progressed in leaps and bounds in the field of sports in recent years. Apart from claiming the number one rankings in the ICC test rankings there have been so many other achievements that speak volumes about the character of the nation’s sports.
From Sania Mirza to Abhinav Bindra, Indians have shined on the international stage. Bringing glory to their country another such athlete is Saina Nehwal who is vying to become the first Indian woman ever to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Nehwal is only 20 years old and is currently the world number 3 in World Badminton Rankings.
Hailing from the small town of Haryana, Nehwal has already been awarded the country’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, and is regarded as the symbol of the new Indian woman.
However, like other notable female sports stars the country has produced, Nehwal too is linked with the most successful industry of India, Bollywood.
When Sachin Tendulkar breaks any world record or when Abhinav Bindra wins gold at the Olympics no one asks them about their Bollywood ambitions, but when it comes to women it is rather hard to stay away from that question.
As absurd as the question maybe to ask a serious athlete, media and fans in the country do not spare themselves the embarrassment.
Sania Mirza was questioned about it when she won her third ATP major. Now Saina is thrown with the same question every now and then.
The two scintillating ladies hail from Hyderabad but both were never born there. The heart-throb sensations face the repeated question, which is a bit over the top and perhaps even an insult to sportswomen of their calibre.
India has produced over half a dozen world class sportswomen and Mirza at the age of 23 and Nehwal at 20 still have to demonstrate a sceptical country the liberating power of sport and its ability to emancipate the athlete.
Saina once famously said that for the people of India it may be hard to understand that a female athlete’s ambition is never to get married or to dance aimlessly around trees singing meaningless songs.
Sania Mirza has already made the transformation from being a sports personality to a global marketing brand. Her performances in the sport have dipped from that, and it is hard to see her breaking into the top 10 again. One can only pray that Saina does
not suffer from the same fate.
The mantle is now with Saina who is surely the one with a lot fewer distractions and even more importantly the greater likelihood of becoming the numero uno in her sport.
Saina has so far kept herself away from the media frenzy and focuses only on her game, and that perhaps is the only reason why she has risen meteorically in Badminton.
Her father is an entomologist and has refused promotions that required the athlete to leave Hyderabad. This wise decision has worked in her favour, as she keeps her distance from the media and yet dazzles on the badminton court.
Nehwal has showed tremendous promise since winning the Junior World Badminton Championships in 2003 and is participating in the CWG on the back of three straight titles in Chennai, Singapore and Indonesia.
Today Saina stands just one step short of becoming their country’s only badminton playing female to win gold at the CWG and world number one, China’s Wong Mew Choo stands in her way. However, Saina holds no fear in the match as she has already beaten Wong
previously in Indonesia and will do anything and everything in her powers to bag her first CW gold.
Nehwal surely loves her ‘girl next door’ status and is perhaps the perfect embodiment of the age old cliché ‘when talent and skill combines with sheer hard work, sky is the limit for any athlete’.
It is Saina’s amazing self-awareness that makes her the symbol of the modern Indian women, allowing her to stay true to her roots.
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