 "Saina Nehwal's homecoming")
The scenes were as usual at the recently-built SAI Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad on Tuesday. A handful of singles shuttlers played long rallies, while the rest of them had just finished their stretching session. Out of the nine available courts, only six were occupied as the majority of the singles shuttlers had left for Seoul to play at the Korea Open Superseries. It seemed like a routine day until Court 2 grabbed everyone’s attention. Shuttlecocks were scattered across one side of the court, while on the other, Saina Nehwal was fine-tuning her forehand strokes from the backcourt under the watchful eyes of coach Pullela Gopichand. Towards the end of the session, there was a moment of frustration for the 27-year-old after one of her shots hit the frame. ‘Arey yaar, come on,’ Saina bellowed. But, unperturbed by the rare mistake, she got ready for the next round as the coach tossed shuttlecocks in the air one after the other for Saina to master the skill. She kept control of all her shots, managing to connect and land each of them just inside the baseline. A sigh of relief followed by a thumbs up was enough to sense that there was a certain calmness about her on the court. She jogged around the circle for a few minutes before pointing at her physiotherapist, Arvind Nigam with a broad smile, indicating that she was up for the final stretching session. Saina has faced a few upheavals in the past few years, including a debilitating injury before the 2016 Rio Olympics that almost forced her to quit the sport. However, she has decided to bury the past and start afresh. Saina looks at ease. After all, she is home again. “It feels nice to be back home first of all because Hyderabad is where my home is and training is, of course, going to be different, so again the atmosphere will be different. Obviously, it feels fresh and I’m up and running to train. The main thing whether I’m home or anywhere else, it’s all about training, to keep on improving. I would want to see more improvements and changes in my game. To win titles is one thing but staying fit and being injury-free is what I’m looking at. I’m happy with the training at the academy,” Saina told Firstpost. [lq][caption id=“attachment_4051903” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]
It feels nice to be back home, Saina told Firstpost[/caption][/lq] The grin on her face after flooring a higher-ranked Sung Ji Hyun at the recently-concluded World Badminton Championships in Glasgow was pretty much an indication that Saina was on the right track. A well-deserved bronze medal – which was also her second successive title at the world event, after winning silver in 2015 edition – was a sign that things have gone just about right following a patchy display in 2016, where she even considered the thought of never picking up the racquet again. While PV Sindhu played a 110-minute marathon match in the final against Nozomi Okuhara, Saina had a chat with her former coach Gopichand in the background about a possible return to her alma mater – to the Pullela Gopichand Academy. After the medal ceremony concluded in Glasgow, the duo was seen clicking selfies, chatting happily and within days, the speculation turned into reality. “At the World Championships in Glasgow, I spoke to Gopi sir about the switch and he was happy to help me improve my game in whatever way he can. That was the discussion we had there. Also, he felt that there are a few areas where I could improve. We discussed a few things and these are the small changes that will help me a lot to become a better player. I feel this can make the difference at the highest level,” said Saina. “There’s nothing much that I should change in my game, but to reach the top level you need to fine-tune a player and make those small changes. We discussed all this and I think it will make the difference in future. As of now, I can’t say a lot as it’s just been a few days, the whole process will take up to four to five months. I’m happy with the kind of training and improvement that’s happening,” added the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist. India sprung a surprise in the 2017 Badminton World Federation (BWF) calendar year with a total of
eight titles
– more than Japan (6), Chinese Taipei (5) and China (4) before adding a couple of medals in Glasgow. Training once again with Gopichand’s wards – who have garnered accolades from around the world after impressive outings in recent tournaments – was a logical move in every sense as the former World No 1 does not want to settle for anything less than a title every tournament. “Badminton is not always about a few areas but your overall game. Overall improvement has to happen. I trained with Gopi sir for about 10 years, in fact, since I was 14, so he knows a lot about my game. From here on whatever improvements I require, I think he knows best about it. At the moment, I can’t really tell about one particular area, my whole game needs to improve," said Saina before adding: “All of us at the academy are playing extremely well, be it men’s or women’s. Players here already have the idea of performing well at the highest level.” [imgcenter]
Stamina is one area where I need to buckle up, said Saina[/caption][/rq] It’s been more than a week since Saina returned to the place where it all started; the place where she feels relaxed after training three years in Bengaluru at the Prakash Padukone Academy. With the introduction of a lot of talented shuttlers in the women’s singles, it is becoming more and more challenging for players to win titles at Grand Prix Gold, Superseries or Superseries Premier events. Saina acknowledges the fact that despite being back with Gopichand, the rest of the journey won’t be easy. “Every women’s singles shuttler is playing well and they will catch you at any point of time. It’s not only about deception, they are good at speed and stamina and almost everything, so you need to consider every aspect of the game and day by day the results will come. There is so much competition in every department,” she explained. Interestingly, there is healthy competition within the Indian camp itself as one of Gopichand’s star wards, Sindhu has swiftly jumped a few rungs in recent times to make it to the top 5 of the BWF Rankings. “Healthy competition is always good, it will help a lot. It is great to have two Indian women’s singles (Sindhu and Saina) win medals at the World Championships and I couldn’t be happier as we as a country have managed to pull off such feat. Hopefully, with this, we will have more and more chances of winning medals,” Gopichand told Firstpost. Homesickness was one of the reasons why Saina wanted a move back to Hyderabad and Kumar did not want to stop his pupil from taking decisions which would help her grow. Now, under Gopichand, the warrior-like shuttler is back to her roots, under the mentorship of the man who knows best about her movements and skillset. “I’ve trained her (Saina) for the last 10 years since she was a sub-junior and now she is a player who has done very well at multiple tournaments and hopefully, we both can churn out medals and titles for the country, Gopichand signed off. Injuries and dip in form are just a part of an athlete’s career but to shrug off that and come back with a point to prove is what’ll be etched in everyone’s memories. There will be a few grueling challenges ahead for her but that shouldn’t stop her, after all, she is home again.
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