Harvir Singh Nehwal the real Hero of India
Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal was born in a Jat family in Hisar, Haryana. Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal’s father Dr. Harvir Singh is a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal is housewife, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. Sharing experience of childhood of saina he says Saina was such a sweet child that all our friends and family fondly called her “Steffi” and she was a very active child always interested in sporty activities. Saina’s naughtiest phase was when she was 4 to 5 years old. In Hissar, where we stayed, there were lots of monkeys and Saina was so daring that she would scare the poor monkeys by running after them.
In December 1998, Harvir Singh took saina to meet Coach Nani Prasad at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Seeing potential in the girl, Prasad asked Singh to enroll Saina as a summer trainee. Harvir Singh and Saina, who was 8 yrs old at the time, would wake up at 6 every morning and head to the stadium which was 20 km away. After two hours of practice, Singh would drop Saina to school on his way to work. Saina would often fall asleep on these journeys which prompted her mother to accompany them for the next three months. Traveling nearly 50 km a day in order to accommodate the training schedule, Singh eventually decided to move closer to the stadium in 1999. This however didn’t end the traveling ordeal as Saina was asked to attend evening training sessions as well. With the extra training sessions, traveling expenditure rose phenomenally. Added to the cost of equipment including shuttles, rackets, shoes, gutting and expenses rose to over Rs. 12,000 per month. In order to keep up with the rising cost of her training, Saina’s father withdrew money from his savings and provident fund. The tight-rope walk continued until 2002, when sports brand Yonex offered to sponsor Saina’s kit. As her status and rankings improved, the sponsorships increased.
India’s ace shuttler and CWG gold medallist Saina Nehwal once said in TV interview that her birth was a big disappointment to her grandmother as she wanted a boy. But Sh. Harvir singh nehwal show that boy and girl child are same and didn’t make any difference. He is real hero for Community, india and icon for generation ahead.