Saina Nehwal eyes repeat of Delhi show

New Delhi: Memories of a path-breaking 2010 CWG gold are still fresh in her mind as Saina Nehwal embarks on a quest to regain the title at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next month.

Eight summers ago, a 20-year-old Saina stood on the podium with the gold medal around her neck on the final day to not only become the first Indian woman to achieve the feat but also take the country to second place ahead of England with a gold count of 38 in the overall medal’s tally.

“India was second in overall medal tally in 2010. On the last day we were on 99 medals and Indian hockey (men) and badminton women’s singles were left for the last day. I won gold and in hockey we were runners up,” recalled Saina.

“I felt so happy to be on the podium with the national flag that I cannot forget it.”

It has been an eventful journey for Saina since her debut at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the team event as a 15-year-old. The Haryana-born shuttler beat New Zealand’s Rebecca Bellingham 21-13, 24-22 to help India win bronze in the mixed team event.

“The 2006 CWG Melbourne was my debut and we won the team bronze where my role was also a major one as I won women’s singles event for the team. My journey in CWG has been fantastic,” Saina said.

With Saina skipping the Glasgow Games, P V Sindhu won bronze even as Parupalli Kashyap broke a 32 year wait for a men’s gold medal. R.M.V. Gurusaidutt won a bronze and the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta clinched silver. The Indian team won four medals in all.

This time, India are seeded top in the mixed team event and Saina has no doubt they could do well.

“Certainly we will be winners in most of the events, looking at our strength in all disciplines of team events as well as individual events in badminton,” she said.