When star rivals came together

Saina, Sindhu strike right notes on the court

On a day when rivalries were set aside, the golden girls of Indian badminton -- PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal -- joined forces as they represented Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited at the 38th PSPB inter-unit badminton tournament here Monday.

The small crowd, comprising mainly of employees from various corporates, firmly backed the duo and cheered vociferously for every point they won against Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s N Sikki Reddy and Aparna Balan. Though the match ended in a 21-19, 18-21, 22-20 defeat for the star pair, the crowd were treated to some spectacular smashes and deft touches at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts.

Despite it being a rare occurance, Sindhu and Saina have in fact played as a team in the past as well in the Uber Cup. In recent times, the rivalry between the two has been growing with Sindhu putting it down to nothing but professionalism on court. “When we are out there on the court playing each other, there definitely will be a rivalry because we both want to win. But things are okay off the court.”

“She is in Bengaluru and I am based out of Hyderabad so we rarely get a chance to meet apart from tournaments, during which we exchange pleasantries,” added the lanky 21-year-old.

But the two of them did spend a considerable amount of time training under Pullela Gopichand in Hyderabad, before Saina shifted base to the City.

The World No 4 went on to shed light on how things were different when they trained together. “Back then, I was a junior and she was among the senior ranks so our training schedules used to be different. So we have never really been too close or have spoken a lot.”

On May 5, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) organised their first conclave during which implementation of a central contract system for players, much like the BCCI’s, was discussed.

Lauding the suggestion and new BAI president Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma’s move to include players’ suggestions in such matters, Sindhu said, “The new president has been kind enough to listen to suggestions from the players as well. He has been speaking to us about the contracts and I personally feel that at least the top players must have the benefit of a contract.”

It was recently announced that there will be a biopic made on the Hyderabad lass and expressing her delight, she quipped, “I’m really happy that someone has come forward and offered to do this film.
“I’m sure it will be an accurate narration of the hardships that I’ve faced to reach where I am today.”
DH News Service