Not enough power in women’s game anymore: Saina Nehwal

young new delhi: Saina Nehwal was grinning spike to capitulum as she stepped on to the badminton courts of the Siri fort up Sports Complex on Sunday. It was here that Saina had won the India Open a decade ago. It was here that the former world No.1 had helped India claim their first Uber Cup medal, a bronze, in 2014. It was here that Saina’s gold helped India achieve an unprecedented second place finish at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The trailblazer of Indian badminton, Saina had started winning senior level internationals tournaments from the tender age of 15. Also an early starter, PV Sindhu followed suit to become India’s first and till date the only world champion.

But a gap has developed in both men’s and women’s singles as Indian badminton faces transition. Where Indian singles shuttlers were clinching titles regularly throughout the calendar back in the day, the best bet the country has in today’s badminton is the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who have also not won a title since May 2024.

“All countries face these issues. It is normal. China, South Korea had a phase like this. Japan is going through it. There are 3-4 girls (in India) who are 18-19 and are good. I won’t say there is a lot of gap but yes, these juniors should have (been) playing at that level by now,” said Saina, who was in town for the Legends’ Vision Legacy Tour India.

“They are all good, but there is something lacking. I see very good strokes and good rallies. But what’s missing is the power game and powerful strokes. I don’t see anyone hitting hard smashes. The women’s game has become like that.

“If you see Carolina (Marin), Sindhu, me, Ratchanok (Intanon), Wang Yihan, Li Xuerui, Tine Baun, we were all strong and hitting very hard. These players had that powerful attack. In today’s generation, there are good half-smashers and good rally players but no powerful attacking player. The game has slowed down with rallies getting longer.”

Former world No.1 and All England champion Peter Gade, who played an exhibition game with Saina, said his home country Denmark — a badminton powerhouse — also faces the same challenge of finding the Next Gen top gun. “For the past many years, we are fighting to get the next in line. I’ve been looking at the young Indian players for some time now and there’s a lot of interesting players. The big focus should be on how they take the next step into the senior level,” said the Danish great.

“It’s one thing is to be top 20-30. It’s a different game if you want to go to top 5. That should be the main focus for Indian players. The base needs to be strong. I see some very big potential.”

While India have had multiple shuttlers who have done well at the junior level, not many lived up to the billing in seniors. Siril Verma (silver in 2015), Sankar Muthusamy (silver in 2022), Ayush Shetty (bronze in 2023) among others won medals at the BWF World Junior Championships but none of them made a major impact while transitioning into the senior level.

Some youngsters have shown the potential of late. Unnati Hooda, 18, has performed well in the juniors and is slowly making her moves in seniors. Tanvi Sharma, 16, won silver at the World Junior Championships in Guwahati last month. Anmol Kharb, 18, achieved some sensational victories at the Women’s Asia Team Championships last year. But by this age Saina and Sindhu had already started winning major tournaments at the highest level.

“What Sindhu and I did was something unexpected. We started winning at 15-16 at the highest level. The upcoming kids should be given more time. They have just started to play at the highest level. Sometimes progress happens in the age bracket of 20-23. We have to wait and watch,” said Saina, India’s first Olympic medallist in badminton.

“Unnati is showing a lot of improvement. Tanvi has very good and sharp shots, she is a very good retriever. She needs some improvement in her game and needs to gain strength. It will come with experience. But these girls are amazing with all the shots.

“In men’s, Lakshya (Sen) is there but he’s not (been) consistent. Some matches he plays a little dull, some matches he plays really well. I feel he has got the game to play well throughout the year and win many tournaments because his level is there. I believe it will come with more matches,” Saina added.

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