After a long wait for the next golden girl of Indian sport, Saina Nehwal has staked the claim for the title. I had almost a year back written about our need to support women in India and had mentioned Saina Nehwal. She has now put forth a strong case, not just for her but for all sportswomen. She has done one and all proud with 3 titles in so much weeks. A proud moment for all us Indians. She has something common with the previous golden girls of Indian sports arena. She is not a superstar , just a great sports person who is working really hard. Same as P T Usha, shiny Wilson, Karna Malleshwari and Mery Kom.
I believe the best asset of Saina has been Performance Personified. Looking at her work of last few years, it is very clear, she did not just work on her game. She worked on a lot stuff around her game. Like Stamina, strength etc. She never let down focus and most importantly she always kept raising the bar. At this point we need to give credit also to her mentor Pulela Gopichand and her family. For a girl this age and such success, it would have been very easy to lose focus. There are many sportspersons across the globe who have wasted talent after a initial euphoria.
Saina, I believe should at this point of time also ensure that she does not tire herself out and bore herself out. In her quest to be number one we don’t want her to wear out when she reaches there. It’s going to be even more difficult to stay at these top rankings than reaching them. Also, the dream of every sports person, the Olympic gold. She has the mettle to win, does she have the endurance?
Time will tell. And we have an even bigger job, to back her to the last. She needs a lot of support and prayers from us and she will do great.
Kudos