I had gone mad. I was playing my strokes wrong, she says, the edge in her voice telling you how angry Saina Nehwal still is at herself for losing, for letting a sudden rush of self-confidence unsettle her balance in the match against Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti at the Beijing Olympics. “In London,” she says, “people should actually believe that I can win a medal. And I want to win a gold.”
Years ago, her father Harvir Singh, a scientist with the Directorate of Oilseeds Research Hyderabad and a former state-level (Haryana) badminton player himself, had gone with eight-year-old Saina to meet PSS Nani Prasad Rao, the then badminton coach at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh. Little Saina was standing next to him, holding a racket. Rao asked her to play and he saw her strokes, he knew she had what it takes. She advised her father to enrol her at the stadium as a trainee. Her parents woke her everyday at 4 am so that they could reach the stadium, 25 km from their home. “I would fall asleep on my mother’s lap on the bike and try hard to play. It was tough,” she says.
It’s easy to forget, once you have heard the stories of her grit, her aggression and hunger for victory, that the 18-year-old, who became the first Indian to have reached the badminton quarterfinals at the world’s largest sporting event, is just a regular girl. But talk to her and she’ll open up about how she was to shy to go up and talk to Rafael Nadal in the dining hall or how she enjoyed watching Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na or how, like fellow Hyderabadi Sania Mirza (with whom she otherwise doesn’t like being compared anymore), she wants to endorse popular brands and be seen on TV. What is life like off court? We caught up with the young sportsstar to find out.

... contd.