Badminton star Saina Nehwal is attracting a lot of controversy in recent days due to her outspoken comments against cricket and the importance of cricket more than other sports, in Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast. Nehwal does not like the extra importance given to cricket than the other sports and lashed out at this idea in the podcast. However, she was hit back verbally in style by Mishra.
Nehwal questioned Mishra about Men’s number 1 badminton player to which Mishra said that he does not know. Nehwal came back with a reply and stated that it is the problem why everyone thinks of Badminton as sport for the women. “Why does everyone talk about the women in badminton and not the men? Who is the world No.1 in men’s badminton?” Nehwal asked. “I have no idea,” Mishra replied. “This is the problem, people don’t think about the men. Badminton is not only a women’s game,” Nehwal said.
Then Mishra asked her about the captain of the Indian Cricket Team to which Nehwal replied affirmatively with Rohit Sharma’s name. Mishra trolled back in style and caught Nehwal in her own statement. “See the unfortunate thing is I didn’t mention in my question whether it was the men’s or women’s team,” Mishra trolled back with a sly smile. “I also didn’t ask you about men or women, it’s my mistake as well,” Nehwal said.
Saina Nehwal has an irritation with over importance of cricket in India
Saina Nehwal voiced her annoyance at cricket getting so much attention as compared to other sports like tennis, badminton, and basketball. She noted that these physically taxing sports provide athletes little chance to regain their breath during vigorous play. Cricket, which attracts a lot of attention, is more about technique than physical endurance, in her opinion. She believes other sports should be more honored for the work they demand.
Nehwal said that cricket would always be popular in India despite all the criticism as it is so much loved, even by her. She stressed, nevertheless, the importance of paying comparable attention to other sports. India cannot aspire to become a powerful athletic country or challenge nations like China to win many Olympic medals without this larger assistance. Nehwal thinks that emphasizing on cricket would restrict India’s performance in other sports.
