Free Badminton Queen of India Saina Nehwal by Renu Saran Page A

earlier had been the world junior badminton champion apart from having surprised everyone by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
    Year 2010 - Padma Shri Award

    Saina Nehwal receives Padma Shri Award from
President Prathiba Singh Patil at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi
    Saina Nehwal won the prestigious Padma Shri award in Jan-2010 barely 4 months after receiving the Arjuna award in 2009. The award carries a medal, a scroll of honour and a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakhs.
    Year 2012, London Olympics-Bronze Medal
    •    INR 1 crore (US$189,000) cash award from the Haryana Government.
    •    INR 50 lakh (US$94,500) cash award from the Rajasthan Government.
    •    INR 50 lakh (US$94,500) cash award from the Andhra Pradesh Government.
    •    INR 10 lakh (US$18,900) cash award from the Badminton Association of India.

Saina’s Injury Free Career
    Saina Nehwal, one of the most proficient athletes in Indian sports, has undoubtedly a lot of fitness secrets to share. A vegetarian from Hissar – Haryana, Saina has successfully battled with agile and strong players from China, amongst other countries. Saina’s tanacity and grit have won her many laurels and fans across the globe.
    Badminton is a sport that requires strong muscular strength, high endurance and not to mention levels of fitness needed to display by a prayer. Saina Nehwal has all this and more. But the most incredible thing to note here is that Saina had enjoyed an inury free career. It is definitely remarkable for a badminton player. But how did she manage it anyway?
    There’s a a lot to learn about diet and fitness plans from athletes like Saina, especially because they are not all that different from us in terms of upbringing and food habits. It is true that the international stage is ruled by athletes from nations with diverse dietary and fitness outlooks.
    Most of the Indian athletes have had childhoods and opportunities similar to normal individuals. Hence, when someone like Saina comes along and competes on a world stage, it is crucial to get tips and incorporate them into daily lives.
    There are many things that make Saina a super fit, high energy badminton star who has enjoyed an injury free career since she started playing.
    According to Saina Nehwal, the badminton fitness completely depends on the sum total of a player’s body. One of the most essential ingredients is to remain free from any pains and ailments. Saina feels that she is really lucky in this respect. She also firmly believes in leading a happy, cheerful life. If it is about wininig a game, fitness is an integral part of her strategy.
    To maintain apt badminton fitness, Siana performs a routine of exercises and practices schedules as scheduled by her coaches and physiotherapists. Her fitness routine comprises of endurance, agility and skill exercises. The girl also performs a lot of weights. Running is really important. Her daily routine includes sprint, jump and hop for about 65 minutes in a day.
    This is not all. She feels that it is crucial to have breaks during severe fitness routine. Since, badminton is an intense sport Saina makes it a point to rest in between (about one week) depending on her schedule.
    Just as any game, badminton demands mental fitness from a player. Saina too believes in maintaining a perfect mental fitness in order to ensure maximum out of a game. According to this skilled champion and an Olympic winner, mental fitness is extremely important in any kind of competitive sport. Hence, she performs yoga along with the audio routine recorded in her phone for at least two sessions in a day. She thinks that only a mentally fit person can fight for every point and square inch of court space.
    When it comes to maintaining a dietary routine, Saina is very particular about what she should do. Hence, it is all about consuming very less quanitities of food thrice a day. Being a badminton player, she relies mainly on loads of juices, seasonal