Celebrations will finally take place at the Nehwal residence in Hyderabad after World No 5 Saina won a bronze medal in the London Olympics ufffd a first in Indian badminton.
Only Saina and her parents can explain how special this medal is. Dr Harvir Singh and Usha Nehwal, former state-level shuttlers for Haryana, never let Saina be satisfied without an Olympic medal.u00a0
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Soon after Saina exploded on the global scene after winning the four-star Philippines Open in 2006, a few journalists during an informal chat with Saina’s mother asked what would the celebrations be like at home, to which she shot back: “What celebrations?
We will only celebrate (in the family) after she wins an Olympic medal.” Though Saina has many firsts to her credit — World Junior Championships, Super Series title (Indonesia Open), 2010 Commonwealth Games gold, All-England semis in 2010 — an Olympic medal eluded her. She came tentalisingly close in Beijing 2008.
However, her dream was finally realised far away in London on Saturday.u00a0