Saina a new star from Hyderabad

Hyderabad:

There is yet another winner from Hyderabad and this time it is badminton star Saina Nehwal who has won the Philippines Open. And she looks set to do to women's badminton in the country, what her city mate Sania Mirza has done to tennis. "This time I have to win all those titles. I do not want to leave anything now," she said. Nehwal's triumph at the Philippines Open proved these were not empty words, said just for effect. Rise of the star And while the world has taken note of the 16-year old now, her coach and former All-England champion Pullela Gopichand had predicted Saina's rise to NDTV six months ago. "When you play players of repute, when you play players with unequal facilities and with probably better structures, the quality to fight, the quality to show that I can win, I can beat despite the odds is important and that quality is definitely there in her," he said. NDTV visited Saina's home in Hyderabad and after being ushered into her room her father says it has been taken over by his daughter and her treasure of photographs, trophies and medals. "When me and my wife took her to the badminton court for the first time, she was still a kid. She saw the court, the shuttle and started laughing. Today, I think, maybe that laugh had to do with something she wanted to do 14 years later," said Harvir Singh Nehwal, Saina's father. Saina has three more tournaments to play before she returns home on June 17 and her father hopes Manila is just the beginning and his daughter's best is yet to come.

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