Saina Nehwal: Riddled with injury, makes a hero's comeback

One athlete who made a brilliant comeback in the World Badminton Championship was Olympic bronze medal winner Saina Nehwal
The 27-year-old has had problems with injuries and this was evident when she crashed out of the Rio Olympics early
Saina did not give up on her training and decided to get back to where she belongs, on the top

PV Sindhu fought valiantly against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara but fell a little short in the final of the World Badminton Championship. Sindhu has won the silver medal however and brought glory to India.

Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu came into the match with a 3-all head-to-head record against Okuhara. But the Indian had an upper hand in their last two meetings, at the Rio Olympics and 2017 Singapore Open.

The 22-year-old Sindhu has a long career ahead of her and with perseverance and the skills on her side it won’t be long before we see her win the World Championship or gold in the Olympics.

But one athlete who made a brilliant comeback was Olympic bronze medal winner Saina Nehwal. The 27-year-old has had problems with injuries and this was evident when she crashed out of the Rio Olympics early. The 27-year-old Saina's second round defeat to unheralded Ukrainian Marija Ulitina was the lowest point for India in Rio and the shuttler agreed that she should not have gone to Rio.

The Injury

Saina was hospitalized and underwent treatment for an inflammation in her right knee, which hampered her on-court movement in the Rio Olympics. Post her early exit, Saina avoided talking to the media. Her coach had said that Saina had to start from scratch which was very difficult for her. She had to start strength building exercises for her quadriceps and hamstring.

Age, too, is not on Saina’s side as many shuttlers quit or tend to lose steam by the time they are 27, as was witnessed in the case of Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat.

However, Saina did not give up on her training and decided to get back to where she belongs. And it was her love for the game that fuelled her further.

The Comeback

The 27-year-old Indian, who won a silver medal at the last edition of World Badminton Championship at Jakarta, went into the Glasgow edition unseeded. She defeated hometown favourite Kirsty Gilmour to reach the semi-final, to assure herself of at least a bronze.

After winning the match, the Hyderabad-based player said, "Disappointment after missing out Olympics is very bad. You feel extremely hurt when you don't play such big event and only I know what I went through. Only I know how much it hurts. I often cry but I am willing to go through that if I can win and play my best."

She was stopped on her tracks by Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. But Saina had already proven her point and won the bronze.

On what could be the plan in coming months, she said, “Yes I am happy with the progress. The more I play the more I will know about them. I hope I stay fit, and I am in shape and not get injured like last year. This year I played just 8-9 tournaments. I was away for a long time because of the knee injury. As I am coming back I am happy with my condition and next year itself will be very tough with Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.”

Shraddha Kapoor, who will play Saina in the big screen soon, congratulated the sports personality for her big win at the World Badminton Championships.

Massive congratulations @NSaina on winning your bronze. What a bounce back after your injury. Incredible! You make us so so so proud. 🏸🇮🇳❤️
— Shraddha (@ShraddhaKapoor) August 27, 2017