Dubai: It had been a tormenting last three weeks of her career, but Saina Nehwal has seen quite a few like this come and go. While the country had been revelling in the success of compatriot P.V. Sindhu’s silver medal at the Rio Olympics, the former world No. 1 shuttler is faced with overcoming the aftermath of a major knee surgery.
The arthroscopy on her right knee, performed on return from Brazil soon after a shocking second round exit in Rio, has virtually ended her season for the year — including the season-ending BWF World Superseries Finals in Dubai. “It was possibly destined like this, but I will come back,” said the diva of Indian badminton from Hyderabad home.
Speaking to Gulf News, Saina said from her Orion Villa residence: “The arthroscopy on my knee was done by Dr Dinshaw Perdiwala, Head of Arthroscopy in Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. I was in bed rest for a week and later he called me to Mumbai and reduced the weight of the cast.
“Right now, I am doing the conditioning of my affected right knee with the help of physio at home in Hyderabad,” said Saina, for whom Rio was the third Olympics appearance. Having made her debut in Beijing as a precocious 18-year-old, the Hyderabadi made the badminton world sit up by making the quarter finals and then went on to give India the first Olympics medal in her sport with a bronze in London 2012.
In a recent interview, her coach Vimal Kumar said that they were only looking at a possible comeback date in November — while suggesting with all pragmatism that her future as a player hinged on the recovery of the knee. Asked to put a date to her return on the courts, Saina was upbeat though:
“Let us see, it (the return to courts) may happen earlier too. I wish the Almighty helps me in recuperating well within the shortest possible time.”
With the benefit of hindsight, does she feel it would have been better to skip the Olympics? There was a tinge of regret when Saina said: “I was advised that it is an inflammation of fat pad in knee and will go away with some painkillers. Nobody advised me to go for a MRI before Olympics, while I was very much in rhythm in my practice matches too.
“However, all failed miserably to diagnose my ailment and the pain went on increasing and I lost the second round match at Rio — to my utter disbelief.”
The girl who had breached the ‘Chinese Wall’ in her sport, incidentally, is no stranger to injuries though — having fought a suspect knee to come back strongly and had occupied a place in top five rankings for years. After a slow start to 2016, Saina received a big boost ahead of Rio when she clinched her second Australian Open title after defeating China’s Sun Yu in a three-game thriller of the Super Series event in Sydney in June. The Indian ace who had beaten two former world champions — Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon (2013) and China’s Yihan Wang (2011) in the quarter finals and semi-finals on way to the title — looked good enough to improve on her bronze showing in London till the knee revolted.
Asked how difficult will this comeback be, given the fact that she is now 26, Saina said: “ Yes, I overcame Achilles injury and this one will also go. I will do my best to come back well on court, age is just a number for me.”
Finally, Indian badminton provided one of the few bright spots in Rio, thanks to Sindhu’s silver and Srikanth’s performance in men’s singles.
As someone who is credited with giving India a renewed hope in the sport for the last eight years, what’s her take on that? “I am happy that Sindhu came back with a silver and Srikanth showed a silver lining for another medal. No doubt I failed to do justice to the expectations but it’s all in the game. The heartening thing is badminton in India is on right path and will usher in new era with more budding players,” she signed off.
