Saina wins the Philippine Open

MUMBAI: Saina Nehwal’s parents wanted her to become a doctor. That was until former All-England champion Prakash Padukone told her father Harvir Singh that she would have to forget pursuing excellence in badminton.

On Sunday, when Saina became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event — the Philippine Open — Singh could not but recall Padukone’s sound advice given in 2004.

The badminton legend was on the panel that met Saina before she was inducted into Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited at the age of 14. From that day on academics were put on the back-burner.

Saina beat Malaysian seventh seed Julia Xian Pei Wong 21-15 22-20 in the final, but it was her quarterfinal win over world No4 Xu Huaiwen of Germany that was most commendable.

“Actually, before playing Xu, I only knew that she was a top player. I had no idea that she was the world No4. I had never played her before,” Saina told DNA from Manila.

She also threw light on her great comeback in the third game of that match. “I was trailing Xu 6-13 in the final game. 

From then on I engaged her in longer rallies and brought the score level before taking the game 21-17.” Not surprisingly, Saina rates this as her best win.

Saina will now play in the Indonesian Open, a six-star event, and follow it up with four-star events in Singapore and Malaysia. In Indonesia she will have to play the qualifiers. “The next few days will be tough, especially Indonesia. But I want to win every tournament I play in. I want to be in the top-20 by the end of the year,” the world No86 says.

Pullela Gopichand, who has coached Saina over the past two-and-a-half years, says his ward is not forcing wins over top-20 players on the strength of sheer talent. “I would not say that she is extremely talented,” he said. “But she has the uncanny ability to play the right shot at the right time. She is able to keep the shuttle in play for a long time and is very strong for a 16-year-old.”