Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who brought laurels to the nation on multiple international stages including the 2012 Olympics in London where she clinched a historic bronze, spoke in candour during her visit to the Rashtrapathi Bhawan.
The 34-year-old was pictured playing a couple of rallies with the Honourable President of the nation Shri Droupadi Murmu, before addressing a congregation at the place of importance.
She stated that it occurred to her sometimes that she would have done even better than she already has, had she opted for a different racquet.
“Sometimes I feel that it would have been good if my parents had put me in tennis,” Nehwal said.
“There is more money and I had more strength I think. I could have done better in tennis than badminton,” she added.
She spoke about how far sporting culture has come in India from times when she was growing up.
“When I started, I didn’t have any role models to look up to. No one to look up to and say ‘I want to be world number one or be an Olympic medallist,’ I hadn’t seen anyone do that in badminton before me,” Saina said.
She pushed for the involvement of children in sports, pointing out the need for young girls to take up the challenges of a career in the world of sports.
“I always tell children to concentrate on games. China wins 60-70 medals, We only get 3-4. There are so many doctors and engineers, their names don’t come in newspapers,” the star from Hisar said.
“I want girls to especially to come forward and start getting fit and get into sports. Now we are there for the children, there are world number ones, Olympic champions and so many medallists to look up to,” she added.
Nehwal, an absolute workhorse of a player, noted for her grit and determination also touched upon the workman attitude that helped her scale the heights she did.
“I loved hard work, I was not the most talented person, I need to practice a lot. If a talented player is doing something 100 times I had to do it 1000 times. But I like hard work. My coaches like my never give up attitude,” Nehwal concluded.
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