SHE'S GOT GAME

For over a decade, Saina Nehwal has broken records and created sporting history with her killer moves and big-ticket wins. Now more determined than ever, the badminton star, with a biopic out soon, is ready to take over centre court, finds Priya Ramani

- Priya Ramani

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The sport that now defines her life didn’t always come naturally to her. At nine, Nehwal told her mother she found badminton difficult. Usha Nehwal’s reply was brief and emphatic: “You can win an Olympic medal.” Tiger mum-level pressure notwithstanding, over the next two decades Nehwal soared into the spotlight with a series of firsts. In 2006, she became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton tournament. In 2008, she entered the top 10 badminton ranking. In 2015, she won the World No. 1 ranking and became the first Indian woman to achieve this feat. And in 2012, her mother had an opportunity to say, “I told you so” when Nehwal became the first Indian badminton player to win a medal (bronze) at the London Olympics. She still drives her ‘lucky’ BMW X6 that she was gifted when she won this medal.

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