But there are quiet achievers on the Indian sports arena, especially on the distaff side. Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli Harika, Chess Grandmasters are the prominent amongst them. Sania Mirza showed lot of promise but then withered away. She reached a peak ranking of late 20's a couple of years back, but is languishing now amonst the backpack. She is in the news these days for wrong reasons regarding her personal life than for her tennis.
The person who has quietly made tremendous progress as a world class sportswoman from India is the Badminton Ace, Saina Nehwal. Just 19, she has already achieved a career high ranking of 5 and is currently the 6th best player in the World. She was awarded Padmasree and comes across as a very intelligent, hard working, dedicated sports person who has her head screwed in the right places. While Sania has hogged all the limelight for achieving much less, Saina has gone miles ahead of her in achievement in the sports field.
Not many know that gut wrenching hard work goes into making of a world champion. Listen to Saina "Everyday is a gruelling nine-ten hours schedule except perhaps Sundays. My day begins at 7.30 am with training and is divided into sessions with fellow players and my coach Gopichand till about evening. And that's just on-court. Off-court activities involve extensive physical training at the gym and stamina-building exercises"
She is also very balanceed and sensible for someone who is just 19.... "First, be fair to yourself and ask whether you really want to take up sports, professionally. Even if you don't intend to play professionally, definitely play to keep fit and for your health. If you are a natural in the game, then work hard, practise every day. But come what may, don't leave your studies. If you want to play professional sports, make sure you maintain a balance between playing and your education"
Her achievement is no mean feat, considering her rivals - the chinese, indonesians and the koreans. These countries have tremendous badminton infrastructure and State support. As against this, Saina had to fend for herself and she has come up, despite the badly managed Indian Badminton Federation. She had the fortune to be tutored by the All England Champion, Gopichand, and her ranking was earned brick by brick through sheer consistent top class badminton. She won the World Junior Championship in 2008 and the tough Indonesial Open last year.
May her tribe increase.
