Saina Nehwal chuckled when asked if the 3×15 scoring system, set to come into force from January 2027, could tempt her to return to the badminton court.

In theory, Saina, at least at her peak, would have revelled in this abridged format. Her natural attacking flair, speed and ability to close out games would have made her a neat fit.

While this could make for a good debate over coffee, the reality is quite different. At 36, and having gone through the intense grind of the professional tour for nearly two decades, Saina is unable to meet the physical demands of the sport.

“I wish I could come back, but I have total cartilage damage,” she said during a virtual interaction. “My knee is in a seriously bad shape. I cannot push for more than half an hour. But yes, I really do want to play.”

Saina believes that her contemporary P.V. Sindhu will benefit from the new rules. Sindhu, 31, maybe in the final stages of her career, but has plenty of fight left. In July, the double Olympic medallist served a reminder of her class by becoming the first Indian to win the Japan Open.

Merits and demerits

“The good thing is that Sindhu has the best physiotherapist and trainer. This is really helpful. Her court movement is very good,” Saina observed.

“From next year, when the points system shifts to 3×15, matches will get shorter. You will get a lot of recovery time between fixtures. There are big breaks between Super 1000 tournaments too, which guarantees good rest periods.

“Careers will extend longer because the matches are shorter. Any player can win tournaments in that scenario,” the two-time World championships medallist added.

Saina, the first Indian woman to reach the summit in the World rankings, added a note of caution regarding training regimens.

“The new scoring system will tilt the game towards power and speed. But when you train for power and speed, chances of getting injured are higher. If Sindhu can take care to avoid injuries, she can play for a long time,” she opined.

Looking at the talent that has emerged after Saina and Sindhu, there remains a gap in quality. The likes of Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma have registered some impressive wins, but are not yet world-beaters in the class of their seniors.

“In terms of attitude and skill, Tanvi and Unnati have a very bright future. They have gained experience and produced results. Devika [Sihag] and the other players need to improve a bit more.

“There are challenges – how do you make a comeback from a loss? How much do you train on a regular basis? Are you ready to push yourself and not give up? As far as I have seen, Tanvi and Unnati don’t give up. They keep fighting. They have the best coaches too. Tanvi is training under Park [Tae-sang], while Unnati is training with her father,” Saina stated.

As for the best in the world, Saina rates 2024 Paris Olympics gold medallist An Se-young as a “once in a generation” player. She had taken on the South Korean when the latter was a promising youngster, sharing the spoils with a 1-1 head-to-head record.

“An can rally very well, and the improvement now is that she dives well to pick up shots. She has also improved the speed of strokes. She is not the fastest player, but she has fast strokes and her court coverage is very smooth,” Saina said.

And then there is the 24-year-old’s intense drive – a trait Saina views as key.

“Even after having won the Olympic gold and so many titles, you can still see that hunger to win. When she lost recently, you saw her crying. A player with that sort of desire is tough to defeat.”

Against the odds

The 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist is of the opinion that with cricket taking centrestage in India, athletes in other sports must stay at an elite level to gain recognition.

“In India, the problem is that if you perform in any sport apart from cricket, you don’t get much importance unless you win tournaments. Tanvi and Unnati have won tournaments, and that’s why everyone is talking about them. You have to show results and win consistently. That is when you get popular in this country.”

Saina, who is serving on the expert panel of Sony Sports Network for its coverage of the 2026 Asian Games, is hopeful that the hype around the Indian cricket teams will not overshadow other disciplines at the multi-sport extravaganza.

“I will be happy as long as medal winners from other sports are [also] celebrated. We expect the Indian cricket team to win medals at the Asian Games and the Olympics. But this could mean that medallists from other sports might feel bad if they don’t receive the same encouragement as the cricketers.

“I have a feeling that [even] if they (non-cricket sportspersons) win a gold medal, they will get sidelined. In that scenario, I will feel bad because only cricket gets the support,” Saina explained.

The Padma Bhushan awardee reflected on the challenges she faced during her playing career, especially when it came to getting the attention of the general public.

“I had to win multiple Super Series titles in a year to be there [in the spotlight]. Just one Super Series victory was not enough. I had the motivation to win an Olympic medal, and to become the World No. 1. The victories helped me appear in newspapers, and people started to notice me.”

Guts and glory

Her groundbreaking achievements were marked by self-improvement and dedication to the sport.

“I worked on improving myself every day – listening to my coaches, thinking about how to prepare for the next tournament, staying injury-free… I had big goals for myself, which is why I was able to win at Super Series events and the World championships,” Saina stated.

“Having said that, I also feel sad that after winning 24 international titles and an Olympic medal, many people confuse me with tennis player Sania Mirza.

“I am sure that about 70 to 80% of girls in India do not know anything about the world of sports. We have to find out how we can promote sports. I am not against cricket, but other sports cann ever overtake cricket unless athletes keep winning at the highest level.”

Saina emphasised the role of a stable support system, starting with good parenting.

“To win even a couple of Super Series tournaments is very, very challenging for Indian players. If there is no financial support, we should not expect to win a single title.

“When my parents took the risk to support my badminton dreams, they did not think much about the great financial rewards I may get. They just wholeheartedly supported me, and luckily I could come back with so many good results. But how many parents can do this? It’s not that easy.”

Top seed Anahat lost just two games in the entire tournament.
| Photo Credit: World Squash

Ancy Sojan, having eclipsed Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old National mark of 6.83m set at the 2004 Athens Olympics, has a clear target: the Asian Games gold in Aichi-Nagoya in September this year.

“I want to bring the gold medal with a high class jump. I am aiming for the Asian Games record also so that I can directly qualify for the World championship next year. 6.86m is the qualification mark (for the Worlds) and the qualifying period will start from August 23,” said Ancy, who clinched a silver medal at the last Asian Games in 2023 with a jump of 6.63m. She is now the Asian season leader, thanks to her effort of 6.88m at the National inter-State athletics meet in Bhubaneswar recently

On her exceptional performance in hot and humid conditions, Ancy — who had recorded her personal best of 6.75m at the Federation meet in Ranchi in May — said, “I came here to do my personal best and be a good world class performer. I didn’t aim for the National Record.”

She was relieved with the breakthrough. “Finally it happened, I felt like I was getting tired but I remembered ‘What if I go to represent our country and if I feel tired?’ Suddenly, I remembered my last Asian Games and I got a boost. With all the belief, I took a good breath and jumped, it happened.”

She’s happy with the progress but wants more. “I am so happy that I am improving. I think, let’s aim higher than this.

An experiment

“Mentally and physically it’s like an experiment. You get tired but still you have to jump because you train for that. I want the energy, after 10 jumps I want to stay the same. Each and every training session I am thinking about the target I want to achieve, so that it helps me push more. Today I thought I was competing in the Asian Games and I felt that someone could beat me, so I needed to grab the medal for our nation. Suddenly it encouraged me, it’s fun.”

For Ancy, the record-breaking jump, which pushed her to seventh place among world leaders this season, sent a message. “This is a statement that India also has good jumpers, if someone works hard she can achieve it. Just believe in yourself, be patient and be dedicated to our work. People will say things but never mind, be true to yourself. I do the same.”

The build-up to her remarkable performance in Bhubaneswar started after the Ranchi meet. “After that (Ranchi), I trained hard the same way. Every training I just aimed at what I wanted to be… focusing on technique, run-up and fitness. Each session I pushed hard, I just stuck to my plan.

“Lots of people asked me why you didn’t push for the Commonwealth Games qualification. I knew this jump was not easy, so I needed more time for training. I just focused on training only, so I could get there. This was the only (qualifying) competition for the Asian Games. I worked hard and finally got a good result. We had a good plan, God helped us.”

The record wasn’t Ancy’s target. “I was not chasing the record actually. I didn’t have any records in my name at the National level. I wanted to do my personal best and a world class jump. Because I am aiming to compete at the international level. I see their enthusiasm. I had competed before in my first Commonwealth (in 2022 and did 6.25m). I was a beginner and I saw people jumping. It was like literally enraged me, their speed and ability. So I felt like I could also do the same. If I want to be like them, I need to jump like them. I aim to become a world-class jumper. I want to keep improving. I want to be consistent with that.”

The competition had tense moments. “Before my first jump, I was under a little bit of pressure, I wanted to be safe. But the first jump I did in my lifetime, 7m-plus jump. I was so happy and tension-free. In between, there were some fouls and minor issues. Then I was a little tired, so I went to my coach (Anoop Joseph), because I felt some stomach issues. He said, ‘Nothing, you are okay.’ It charged me up, suddenly I got goosebumps and my eyes got wet.

“I then remembered a scene… I was watching a reel of the film on Milkha Singh. He is wearing the India blazer and is asked ‘Who told you to wear this?’ And he says, ‘I am just trying this.’ Suddenly the coach comes and hits him and says, ‘If you want to wear the Indian jersey, you have to beat him (your opponent). His coach insisted, ‘Tell him you have to beat him.’ Finally Milkha says, ‘Yes.’ It really inspired me. The same thing I tell myself, you have to beat that. And finally the moment happened.”

A legend

For Ancy, her senior Kerala Statemate Anju remains an inspiration. “I knew Anju ma’am had a huge jump, 6.83m. She struggled a lot (to reach there). She is a legend. I am aiming to be like her, I want to become a world class jumper.

“I want to say that ma’am is truly an inspiration. I recently read that she has one kidney and her story inspired me a lot. I saw her jump several times and I knew how hard she trained for that also. I hope ma’am is happy about this and would support me.”

Ancy looked back at the hormonal issues that had held her back last year. “I had some hormonal issues, I was not able to get fit like this. This year I sacrificed a lot of food and decided that I wanted to become a world class jumper. Even my coach reminded me, ‘If you sacrifice and be dedicated, you will get the result. If you want to jump like a top performer, you will have to train like that.’ So if I feel tired during training, I say, ‘You have to do it.’ It helps me to push harder and train.

“I am mentally more stable than before. The experience, the difficulties and the obstacles have made me stronger. And God is helping me. I never thought it would happen. I was missing the mark narrowly because of some mistakes. But finally it happened.”

Disciplined lifestyle

Ancy doesn’t regret maintaining a disciplined lifestyle. “I love to eat a lot of food. But I remember why I am here. I tell myself, ‘First you achieve your goal, then eat.’ All the sacrifices including social media, food, whatever, will get you the result.

“I reduced my food quantity because of the hormonal issues as I used to put on weight. It is very hard to jump with a lot of weight. Last year I struggled with that. This year my diet is good. I started early, took time and prepared very well. I followed my coach’s advice. I got the result. Now I am 55kg. Before this, it was 63kg. Now my body fat is 13% after coming down from 26%.”

Ancy rides on her renewed confidence as she approaches the Asian Games. “This year I want to bring gold and hear the National anthem of India. I love biryani and rice. Now I completely avoid that. Maybe, I will have that after the Asian Games,” she said.

Published – July 06, 2026 01:06 am IST