Dubai Walk into the badminton arena at Dubai Sports World inside the Dubai World Trade Centre and you will be greeted with a huge poster of India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal promoting the BWF Destination Dubai World Superseries Finals to be held in Dubai this December.
Sure, the world No. 8 is probably the most recognised non-Chinese face in women’s badminton, but it was not the 24-year-old whom the sizable crowd had come to see during the launch of Shuttle Time Dubai, the Badminton World Federation’s grassroots initiative that is led by Dubai Sports Council and facilitated by Falcon and Associates.
Hogging the limelight was another Indian, rising star and world No. 10 P. V. Sindhu. The 18-year-old bronze medalist at the World Championship is a fierce rival of her countrywoman and although they both train at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, they are hardly the best of friends off court, her ‘ready to take on Saina’ remark being well played up by the Indian media earlier this year.
fierce rivalry
“We train together and lunch or dine together with the team, but no, we two don’t go out for dinners or anything like that. We are fierce competitors on the court and although we have no problems off it, we don’t exactly message or call each other. In fact, given the amount of time we have to practice or devote to tournaments, we don’t have the time to socialise. But having said that I do hang out with other fellow shuttlers who are my friends,” Sindhu told XPRESS on her maiden visit to Dubai.
Comparisons between the two Indian stars are inevitable given their proximity in world rankings and the fact that both are bronze medalists at major world events. And they almost took India to the final of the Uber Cup recently, losing narrowly to Japan in the semis.
Sindhu and Saina played doubles together, unlike their tennis counterparts Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi who can’t even bear to be on the same side of the court, country be damned.
“It was a great moment for us, definitely the highlight of this year for me,” Sindhu said, adding: “Although I have not yet won a title this year, it has been good so far, having reached the final of the Indian Grand Prix Gold at the start of the year.” Incidentally, Sindhu fell to Saina at the final hurdle.
The lanky shuttler, who is hoping to qualify for the Dubai event, is however yet to win a Superseries title, something her nemesis has already done multiple times. “Winning one this year is definitely a priority, besides doing well at the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. It’s going to be a hectic year and I am hoping to finish the year among the top seven players,” she said.
