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7/10/2009
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mount Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart have agreed to pay Real Madrid for striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who is now to make the decision about leaving The Bernabeu or not
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‘Chinese get scared too’
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Having won her first Super Series title, Saina Nehwal’s next objective is to perform consistently. Excerpts from a chat:
Growing up, were you aware of your limitations in strokeplay? I knew my mistakes. I still can say I have only good smashes, I’m a good runner… and if I practice defence everyday, then my defence becomes good. Otherwise, I don’t have good strokes… everyone knows it, and everyone laughs at it. But they know I have fighting spirit. Once my half-smashes fall, it’s tough for the opponent to pick it up. The only thing that helps me win is my fighting spirit. What was it that helped you beat the Chinese this time? Before, I didn’t know how to play them exactly. It takes time to learn their game and I was always giving a tough fight to them, but there were some points lacking in me so I couldn’t win matches. Against Wang 2005: Asian Satellite, Lin in the fiNew Delhi nal, whenever 2006: Philippines she was dribOpen bling, I was lifting, and she 2008: Chinese Taipei was banging it Open, World Junior down. Atik Championships title (Jauhari) Sir 2009: Indonesian told me, why Open Super Series do you want to lift it, just play it there at the net, you have a good dribble. I tried doing that, and I got five continuous points. The training I did from ages 9 to 11 is working out now. I did so much of training then, that it made me so much stronger. Now I’m strong. That’s why the Chinese get scared too. What are the broad principles you follow? See, I don’t believe in video analysis, in diet, in psychologist… you should eat whatever you want, but not junk, because you know it’s not good. I know I put on weight if I eat ice-cream. Sugar or salt makes you slow. I eat ice-cream when I win a tournament. I ate it after the Indonesian Open, after more than four months of hard training. What was it like when you won the Indonesian Open? I couldn’t sleep during the tournament. Before the final, I was sitting up the whole night. After winning the final, I was up the whole night holding the medal. And at 5 in the morning I went to the gym, to train for two hours. Only then could I sleep.
...That is what Saina Nehwal wants to be if she is not already one. She knows that the only way survive among the top is to stop the Chinese, writes Dev S Sukumar after spending a day with the ace shuttler in Hyderabad
Titles
ack in Hissar, Haryana, where Saina Nehwal comes from, they still call her ‘Steffi’. Her light hair had probably something to do with it; also, her athleticism in school sports events. She was always ‘Steffi’ at home; it was only when the family shifted to Hyderabad when she was nine years old that the now-popular name would be frequently used. It’s a name that the badminton-playing world will have to reckon with for a while. Some already believe that, like the German tennis great, Saina can stay atop her sport for a while. To put the Saina Nehwal phenomenon into perspective, one needs to understand the landscape of women’s badminton. For nearly 30 years, ever since the Chinese entered international badminton, they have had a stranglehold on its fortunes. Barring the occasional name, like Indonesia’s Susi Susanti and Mia Audina, or Denmark’s Camilla Martin and Tine Rasmussen, the Chinese have dominated women’s events so ruthlessly that they robbed it of all colour and charisma. That is precisely what made the 19-year-old Indian’s Indonesia Open Super Series win so remarkable: it announced the coming-of-age of a player who could topple the existing power structure. The title was therefore not just great news for Indian badminton; it was a breath of fresh air for world badminton. The young Indian had a steady, consistent Saina Nehwal rise to the top ten. But the hard part, of winThe Chinese ning top-level titles, beare not so gan after that, mostly because she kept rungood at the net,” ning into the Chinese. Saina says. “If you Apart from a solitary lift, they’ll hit. win against 2007 champion Zhu Lin last year, They’re very good she was unable to pull at playing the fast off matches against the game. But they rest of them, and there were four or five in the can’t stay in the top ten at any time. rallies. You just At Singapore her ophave to pick their ponent Wang Lin was on her knees, and yet strokes, and make Saina was unable to them move.” close out the match. That was when her coach Atik Jauhari pointed out a tactical flaw: why was she lifting the shuttle from the net, instead of using the dribble more consistently? She ran into the same opponent in the final of the Indonesian Open, and there it was a different story. Saina controlled the net beautifully, leaving her opponent clueless. “The Chinese are not so good at the net,” Saina says. “If you lift, they’ll hit. They’re very good at playing the fast game. But they can’t stay in the rallies. You just have to pick their strokes, and make them move. They’re really good at attacking, but not at rallying. They get tired very fast. Gopi sir (coach Pullela Gopichand) told me, you don’t have to play good, class strokes, just stay in the rallies. And I was able to do that, I was not getting tired at all.” But playing the rallying game at the top-10 level is a draining, torturous affair, and to do that match after match requires the body to take immense punishment. Saina was always strong for her age, but she had to build on that foundation with a rigorous regime. It meant turning into a non-vegetarian; keeping off sweets and ice-cream, and experimentation with various kinds of training. “Gopi Sir decides all of that,” she says. “I like to experiment with my training. When Heath (Matthews) was at the academy, he made me do a lot of running. People used to laugh, but maybe that helped me stay on court longer. I did kick-boxing for a month… maybe that helped strengthen my legs. “I know that if I hit a smash, they can’t pick it up. I’m not getting tired at all, but I’m trying to be fitter, so I can beat three-four Chinese in a row. So every time we’re thinking of the Chinese and how to beat them. We’re not thinking of other players.” The resemblance to the former German tennis great may be more than just in the nickname.
SNAPSHOTS
—DEV S SUKUMAR
STUDY TIME: In discussion with coach P Gopichand before the start of a training session
FUN TIME: Training was serious but it was evident that she was enjoying it
HOME BIRD: After gruelling practice, she usually unwinds at home PICS: DEV S SUKUMAR
She is a SRK, At 14, she Federer fan got a job
Youngest in Uber Cup
Is not fascinated by music. Likes Shah Rukh Khan movies. Adores Roger Federer and Taufik Hidayat. Loves buying new cell phones and cars. Had enrolled in martial arts classes when she was nine. Her first foreign trip, the Junior Singapore Open, was funded by a jewellery store in Hyderabad.
Is the youngest-ever Indian international, having broken into the Uber Cup team at 13. The woman whose record she broke, Madhumita Bisht, was a coach during the Uber Cup camp in 2003. “She reminds me of myself, she is quite fast and hits hard,” Madhumita said at the time.
When she was only 14, she had appeared for a job interview in Bharat Petroleum. Accompanied by her father Harvir Singh, Saina attended the interview, only to discover that heading the three-member panel was badminton legend Prakash Padukone! She got the job.
It’s official, Sania’s now engaged Wrestlers on winning spree The Indian tennis star’s engagement ceremony, held in Hyderabad, was a strictly private affair KB Ramana. Hyderabad It’s official now. Tennis ace Sania Mirza has shed her single status. Though she got engaged to still-studying Sohrab Mirza on Friday evening, the wedding bells are unlikely to ring at least for the next one year. The engagement ceremony, held in Hyderabad, was a strictly private affair away the from media glare. In fact, Sania Mirza’s father Imran Mirza had politely asked the media not to cover the event. According to sources close to the Mirzas, the family had sent out about 300 invitations with ‘admit one’ written on
them. Most of the invitations were sent to the relatives and friends. Television actress Rakshanda Khan and tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi were said to be at the event apart from few Telugu cinema stars and of course Sania’s sponsor GVK family. The engagement event too was held at a five-star hotel owned by GVK. The engagement programme lasted for about one hour with ‘Ek Masad Ka
Sania with her suitor Sohrab Mirza
Rasam’ as the main event. As part of this, the families of bride and the bridegroom sit on a carpet and make the bride and the groom exchange rings. “The groom has brought about 11 pairs of clothes for the bride apart from several boxes of dry fruits and jewellery,” the source said. With several youngsters creating nuisance at Sania’s residence last week, the city police had made elaborate security arrangements at the engagement venue to thwart any further attempts by miscreants. “The Mirzas were never interested in making the engagement a big event. Since they were keen on making it a religious event, there was no scope for TV cameras to capture the visuals,” the source said. Sohrab Mirza, the groom, will be traveling to London shortly to pursue his MBA and formally marry Sania only after completing his education.
India has bagged two gold, one silver and five bronze medals on the opening two days of Asian junior championship C Rajshekhar Rao. New Delhi Indian wrestling officials are confident of a flurry of medals in the latter part of the Asian junior championships, after the country bagged two gold, one silver and five bronze medals on the opening two days in Manila. “Sushil Kumar’s bronze medal at the Beijing Olympic Games seems to have spurred grapplers on to bigger things,” a delighted Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) secretary-general Kartar Singh
told DNA on Friday. among wrestlers. The “We were expecting MEDALLISTS preparation camps for a bagful of medals but the Commonwealth Men’s Greco-Roman: just about everyone Suresh Yadav 60 kg : gold Games have also given seems to be ensuring a boost to the sport. I Manoj 55 kg: bronze one for the country in think these medals will Manjit 50 kg: bronze this meet,” said Karencourage others in the Rupender 96 kg: bronze tar, who was all praise squad to push for top for Suresh Yadav Rakesh Hooda 120 kg: bronze places. We have quite a (men’s 60 kg Greco-Rofew good prospects who Women: man) and Navjot Kaur will fight it out over the Navjot Kaur 72 kg: gold (women’s 72 kg), who next two days,” said Sakshi Malik 59 kg: silver won gold medals for Kartar. Anju Chaudhary 51 kg: bronze the country. “At such meets, “They are among where opponents are our most promising wrestlers and suc- largely unknown, it is often a matter of cess in this meet will help boost their setting the tempo for your own team. confidence quite a bit,” said Kartar, a Since the future of Indian wrestling double Asian Games gold medallist who depends a lot on these wrestlers, it is hails from Punjab. good to see them do so well in such “There seems to be a lot of excitement meets,” he added.