Saina Nehwal, the newest entrant in the celebrity cult of Indian sports, is humble, straight-forward, polite, and a no-fuss person; she enjoys her popular status but wears it lightly. 'I heard somewhere that a couple named their daughter after me! This fan following feels awesome. I feel proud that I have made badminton so popular in India. But I want more,' she says.
Even when you enter her home, you don't see any trace of a "celebrity". The living room and the dining space are done up modestly, and her bedroom is almost bare, no shine here. Saina laughs, 'I grew up very modestly. We only live with what's necessary. I don't want to make my room chaotic with things I don't need.' And then you spot the cabinet with all the golds, the silvers and the bronzes in it, and you know where the shine lies. 'These medals have become her identity,' says Saina's father, Dr Harvir Singh, a scientist.
When we met Saina, she was straining to recover from a leg injury she had sustained while working out on the treadmill. 'I have missed a few matches because of this. I am really hoping that it heals in time for the championship coming up in London. I get angry at myself if I get injured. I feel irresponsible if I miss matches because I wasn't being too careful. There's no room for imperfections if you want to be the world champion.' No surprise that ambition and determination run side by side in the champ. Saina is quite the pampered one at home - 'I am the younger of the two siblings, so I was spoilt from the beginning, not just by my parents but by my sister too. She is married now, but when she visits us, I have her make aloo parathas specially - it's not allowed in my diet otherwise.'
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