Column

Choosing a sportsperson of the year is never easy, especially in a year in which so many athletes have performed with such authority, consistency and flair in so many various disciplines. The list of 10 sportspersons short-listed by this newspaper has three cricketers, two tennis players, one billiards player, two boxers, one wrestler and one badminton player. And of these ten only one is a woman.

The public has chosen Saina Nehwal. And she is my pick too, not because she is the only woman on this list but because she is a path breaker, an athlete who forged a new beginning for Indian women badminton players and reinforced her own hopes and dreams with performances which had never before been seen by any of her predecessors. I choose her because she had no one to follow, no real role model to emulate and no woman achiever in badminton before her, who could have instilled that all-important subconscious self-belief into Saina’s generation.

Saina Nehwal has excelled in a sport, which is physically demanding, mentally challenging and increasingly competitive with the Chinese and Indonesians producing quality players by the dozens every year. She has broken free of the inhibitions and self-doubt, which had dulled the hopes and aspirations of generations of our women shuttlers. Aparna Popat briefly provided signs of breaking free of the mental blocks which history had given our women players but somewhere lost momentum.

With no backdrop of significant historic achievement in her sport, Saina became the first Indian to win the world junior badminton championship. She became the first Indian in June this year to reach the semifinals of the World Super Series and this shortly after winning the Indonesian Open. And of course she became the first Indian to reach the quarterfinal at the Olympics last year.

Leander Paes’ 2 Grand Slam victories in doubles this year has undoubtedly been remarkable considering the competitive nature of the sport and the fact that he still has the hunger and desire at age 36. Somdev Devvarman provided him able assistance in winning our Davis cup tie against South Africa. Vijender Singh and Suranjoy are both fantastic boxers and their achievements are both inspirational and praiseworthy.

Vijender in particular has shown that his bronze medal at the Olympics in 2008 was not a one off. Ramesh Kumar created history by winning a bronze in the 74 kg category in the world wrestling championships this year whilst Pankaj Advani won the world professional Billiards Championship defeating Mike Russell, one of the finest cueists of all times.
Our cricketers – Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag — all performed with flair and consistency providing entertainment to a nation obsessed with their heroics.

However except perhaps for Vijender, all other athletes have had illustrious role models in their respective sports — athletes who had achieved significant and sometimes path breaking victories.

And so Saina stands out in 2009. She is the sportsperson for 2009 for being a revolutionary in her sport. She gets pole position for being the first Indian to break the mental blocks and barricades which she had inherited from generations before her. She is my pick because she refused to believe that the Chinese were indestructible in women’s badminton. Because she gave hope to herself, to her fellow players and to an entire
nation that Indian women can win an Olympic Gold.