Simply smashing
Nidhi Arora

SAINA NEHWAL has come a long way. The reigning Under-19 national champion, also a regular at the senior circuit, Saina added to her fast-filling cabinet of trophies and laurels when she recently won the world junior badminton title 21-9, 21-18 against Japanese Sayako Sato. Saina, who hails from Hisar in Haryana, was just 8 when she found the love of her life, badminton. She used to wake up at 6 every morning and head to the stadium, which was 20km-away from her house, for practice.

She was dedication and commitment personified at an age when kids are busy enjoying the wilderness of life, that we know as the precious years of life - a.k.a. childhood.

Saina first made waves by winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton Championship, twice, becoming the first player to do so. Currently coached by renowned badminton player Pullela Gopichand at his academy in Hyderabad, Saina’s foray into the world of shuttles and racquets has been influenced by her parents, both of whom are former state-level badminton players.

Saina is not the first Indian to make the world of badminton sit up and take notice. Everybody remembers the legendary Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand but her feats grow in magnitude as being a girl from a ‘small town’ she has not only broken into the male bastion, but has lifted the bar higher, rather much higher.

But it was in 2006 that Saina truly arrived on the global scene by becoming the first Indian woman to win a four-star tournament, the Phillipines Open. Entering the tournament as the 86 th seed, Saina went on to stun several top-seeded players, including Huaiwen XU, before defeating Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia to claim the title.

Recently ranked no. 11, Saina became the first Indian player to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics when she defeated world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller. In September 2008, she won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open whipping Li Ya Lydia Cheah of Malaysia.

Whatever Saina has achieved hitherto, it’s all because of her dedication and hard work, as the support provided by the so-called national bodies and government-funded organisations barely adds up to be worth a mention.

Nowadays, we see incredible talent coming from small towns and villages, just that there’s a need to harness that talent and bring it upto the mark and on par with the international level. Sania, who is still very young, has actually proven all by showing it to the world that it doesn’t make a difference if you belong to an elite section or not, whether you are a boy or a girl, once you have irrevocable faith in you, be it sports or any other stream, you’ll be a
winner.

Now, is the time when the government really needs to wake up and the authorities must realise that a fabulous champion like Saina is given the sporting assistance that helps her take her game to the next level. Our nation, which is anyways bereft of sporting heroes, can’t afford to let young talent like her go waste, and there is an urgent need to understand this.

Second time lucky
Jonathan Brown

LEWIS HAMILTON became the youngest world Formula One champion as he clinched the driver’s title in the most dramatic fashion possible. Nicole Scherzinger, the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, who jumped up and down with delight as she realised he had finished in fifth place.

His delighted family, including mother Carmen Lockhart and stepmother Linda Hamilton, who have supported him all the way, spent much of the race suffering the torture of watching him languish one position short of the place he needed to win.

Hamilton, 23, had been racing for the last few minutes in sixth position, which was too far back to give him the title. But, in a nail-biting last few seconds, when many will have written him off as yet another British sportsman who fails at the last hurdle, he managed to slip past Toyota’s Timo Glock on the penultimate corner. It meant he was only in fifth position but it was enough for him to win the title and sparked jubilant screaming among his family and supporters trackside and, no doubt, in many living rooms across the UK.

As he set out on a celebratory lap and taking both hands off the wheel to punch the air and the young man from Stevenage sealed his place as not just one of the motor-racing greats but racked up perhaps one of the finest ever achievements in British, if not world, sport. Hamilton now joins the pantheon of F1 British greats, among them Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart and James Hunt.

Speaking over the team radio, Hamilton struggled to comprehend the scale of his achievement but paid tribute to his McLaren team: "This is for you and my family." He added: "It’s pretty much impossible to put into words. It’s been such a long journey and all the sacrifices we’ve made, I’m so thrilled to do this for everyone.

It was one of the toughest races of my life." The young driver, who has grown in stature and maturity in almost every race since the agony of last season when glory slipped through his fingers almost at the chequered flag, was forced to endure the booing of the crowd at the Interlagos track and home to his nearest title rival, the Brazilian Felipe Massa. In Brazil, where motor racing is a religion, the Briton has been under intense pressure in recent days.

Having made a lacklustre start to the rain-delayed race he eventually came good as thunder around Sao Paulo drowned out the jeers of the jingoistic home crowd. The sheer determination and desire to win may not have made Hamilton popular with his rivals but it has helped him claw himself up from humble beginnings in this rich man’s sport to become a black role model who has endured obscene racist taunts only to emerge triumphant. Hamilton’s determination to make it in Formula One transcended his humble upbringing.

His grandparents came to Britain from Grenada and his parents separated when he was just two. From the age of 12 he lived with his father, stepmother and half-brother, who suffers from cerebral palsy.

His father Anthony said: "This is the culmination of 16 years of hard work, and we have to hope this is inspirational for other families and kids. We had no money when we started out but now we’re here on top of the world. " he said. — By arrangement with The Independent

Tsonga on song in Paris
Julien Pretot

AS a little boy, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was taught to finish off everything on his plate and he did just that when he won the Paris Masters on Sunday. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who beat Argentine David Nalbandian 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the final in front of a jubilant home crowd, started sobbing after clinching victory and the tears kept rolling during his post-match news conference.

"My parents taught me not to complain, to always go forward," the son of two teachers said. "They taught me to always finish what I had on my plate. It seems ridiculous but these are little things that in the end make you stronger."

Born in Le Mans, western France, Tsonga has mixed heritage having a French mother, Evelyne, and a Congolese father, Didier, who moved to France in the 1970's to play handball. Tsonga, who saved eight break points against Nalbandian, started his tournament with little appetite but eventually had a feast.

"I was hurting everywhere but I told myself that I had to give it all as I had the chance to play this Masters Series," said the Australian Open runner-up. "Two years ago, I was 250th in the world and loafing around in the minor tournaments."

Tsonga admitted the partisan crowd played a big part in helping him to subdue defending champion Nalbandian. "I played with 15,000 thousand people today, sometimes they were so loud I was almost losing my focus," said Tsonga, who beat world number three Novak Djokovic and Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake en route to the title. Having been sidelined for three months earlier this year with a knee injury, Tsonga said his mixed heritage helped him to believe in himself in Paris this week.

"I've got a bit of the eccentricity of Africa and a bit of Western calm," he said. "I love being able to pass from a feeling of euphoria to one of calm and serenity. I have both origins running through my blood. Sometimes, when I look at my mother, I can think 'well, you are on the court, stay calm, pick yourself up and go ahead."

Tsonga, who climb to seventh in the world when the new ATP standings are published on Monday, will now head to Shanghai to play in the Masters Cup. "I'm going to go there to represent France and all my family and my friends," he said. "I'm going to represent everyone and do my best." — Reuters

MAIL
Ill-mannered Australians

THE type of manners and the civic sense the visiting Australian team members have, was too evident in the third test match being played in Delhi. Firstly whenever their bowlers are hit with a four they run up to the batsman and pass some foul remarks to disturb his concentration. Besides their being arrogant they have provocative habits and are bad mannered shorn of civic sense. Their captain keeps spitting on the ground and also on his palms, keeps showing chewing gum between his lips all the time. Veteran player Sunil Gavaskar was very affirmative during the commentary that this habit of provocating the opposition players is not acceptable and match referees must penalize such actions. Hope the message reaches the concerned loud and clear.

Congrats Anand

HATS off to Vishwanathan Anand retaining his world title after drawing the eleventh game of the world chess championship against the Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik by winning 6.5-4.5 in Bonn on Wednesday. The whole country is overjoyed over his unique feat as he is the World Chess Champion again. Anand now holds the unique record of winning the game’s biggest crown in three different formats. In 2000, India’s first Grandmaster was the last man standing in the 128-player knockout format. Last year, Anand won an eight-player double round-robin field that included Kramnik to regain the crown.

At Bonn, the champion proved that even in match-play, where two players face-off over a pre-determined number of games, he was second to none. It becomes significant for Anand scoring over a player who holds the rare distinction of dethroning Garry Kasparov eight years ago in a title match. This historic triumph saw Anand become the first player from outside the erstwhile Soviet Union nations `E2`80" after Bobby Fischer in 1972 `E2`80" to win a world title match. Fischer and Anand are the only two players who have scored over Soviets/Russians to claim the title in match-play in the post World War II era.

Dilbag Rai.
250-Kendriya Vihar. Sec 48
Chandigarh