I could have done better in tennis than badminton, says Saina Nehwal

During her “Her Story - My Story” talk at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Indian veteran shuttler Saina Nehwal stated that she would have excelled as a sportsperson if she had chosen to play tennis instead of badminton.

Notably, Saina Nehwal emerged as the first Indian female badminton player to become the World No.1 shuttler. Furthermore, she became the first female badminton player from India to secure an Olympic medal.

“Sometimes I feel that it would have been good if my parents had put me in tennis. There is more money and I had more strength I think. I could have done better in tennis than badminton,” she stated (via The Hindu).

Alongside winning the bronze medal in the London Olympics in 2012, Saina Nehwal also bagged gold medals in the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2018. Additionally, she also propelled the Indian women's team to silver and bronze medal wins in World Championships in 2015 and 2017.

Saina started playing the sport at the age of eight and she didn’t have any role models to look up to when she made her national debut.

“When I started, I didn’t have any role models 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 added.

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“I always tell children to concentrate on Games” - Saina Nehwal

Further in her conversation, she urged the young children to take up a career in sports. Taking the example of China winning medals in double digits and India not being able to cross the double figure, Saina insisted youngsters look up to Olympic champions as role models.

“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. 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 concluded.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal played an exceptional role in transforming the sport in the nation, winning several championships and trophies. She is recovering from a knee injury currently and is determined to make a strong comeback very soon.