Indian sportsperson of 2009

Abhinav Bindra called the shots in 2008 by becoming the first Indian to win an Olympic gold in an individual event. The year 2009, which will end in 23 days, has seen any number of outstanding performances in the sports arena. December 3 saw one of the greatest knocks in Test cricket being played by Virender Sehwag who smashed his way with 40 fours and seven sixes to 293 off 254 deliveries, just seven runs short of achieving the world record of being the only batsman to score three triple centuries in Tests. Just 28 days before that, on November 5, Tendulkar smashed 19 fours and six sixes while scoring 175 runs off 141 deliveries at Hyderabad in an ODI against world champions Australia, almost taking India to an improbable win while chasing a mammoth score of 351. However, both Sehwag and Tendulkar were playing at home while representing the national cricket team that has not just a physical-fitness trainer but a mental-conditioning coach.

Nineteen year old Saina Nehwal did not have that kind of back-up when she won the Super Series Indonesian Open tournament on June 21, defeating in the finals China’s Lin Wang, the world number three. Her father, a scientist at the Oilseeds Research Centre in Hyderabad, used to drive her to the coaching centre some 20 km away from home, and then drop her off at school before reporting for duty. Her family spent Rs 12,000 a month on equipment and training until she reached a level where the likes of Yonex and the Mittal Champions’ Trust supported her. The one thing Saina had going for her was that she had an outstanding mentor in the Hyderabad-based Pullela Gopichand who won the All England Open Badminton Championship in 2001. Gopichand is also one of the few Indian sporting legends who has turned down offers to endorse MNC colas as he felt they were not exactly health-enhancing drinks!