Saina currently in a ‘no-media’ and ‘no-fan zone’, Jwala enjoying her moment of history

Saina Nehwal is currently in a ‘no-media’ and ‘no-fan zone’. In fact, all Olympic bound shuttlers are, Jwala Gutta being the exception, says a report in Hindustan Times. To utter the ‘O’ word around them is strictly prohibited. The academy in Hyderabad where they train is like a fortress, with the staff trying their best to tell callers politely that Saina will not be giving interviews or come for a product launch.

HT writes that insulated from the pressure of expectations, ace badminton player Saina Nehwal is leaving nothing to chance. Her father, Harvir Singh, still cannot believe that ‘brand Saina’ has become so big. “It is very difficult to manage now, it has grown beyond our imagination. I keep getting phone calls for interviews or invitations to functions...but this is not the time,” he says, finishing off some paperwork in his office at the Directorate of Oilseed Research. “Ever since her early defeat in the India Open in Delhi (in April), she has worked very hard and the results are there for you to see.

“She goes to the academy at 7.30am and comes back around 7 in the evening. Since her mother is visiting relatives in Haryana and Meerut right now, I get bored at home, so I also leave early for office.”

Meanwhile another HT report says that Jwala Gutta’s first day of training at the LB Stadium in Hyderabad, on her return from Singapore last month, was interrupted by TV channel reporters who wanted her opinion on the ‘doubles trouble’ in tennis. She points to a corner in the stadium, where a small room has been converted into a gym where all badminton players work out.

“I got this made, with a government grant and some of my money. Nice na?” she asks. The gym indeed was cosy enough for the cameras to be set up. But something went missing before the shoot — the lip gloss. “Insi please give me my lip gloss,” Jwala asked her sister, even as the camerapersons waited.

They don’t call her badminton’s glamour girl for nothing. “About time!” she tells you if you ask how it feels to be a part of two doubles teams at the Olympics. After becoming the first Indian shuttler to qualify for women’s and mixed doubles events, Jwala is certainly enjoying the moment of history she has created.

Meanwhile India will be without a relay team at the London Olympics as they failed to make the cut in the IAAF list released on Tuesday, says a report in The DNA. The qualification period for the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays ended on Tuesday. With three members of the Commonwealth and Asian Games gold-winning women’s 4x400m relay quartet — Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur — caught for doping and the fourth, Manjeet Kaur ruled to have retired by a NADA panel.

Another DNA report says that boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav will draw on all of his skill, discipline and determination to return with an Olympic medal and fulfil a promise he made to his father. “Father told me ‘Get me a medal from London and I would not ask for anything from you again’. I, too, have promised him to give my best in London,” he said.