CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets members of Indian hockey team which won silver medal in the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh poses for a photograph with India's ace shooter Gagan Narang, who won four gold medals in the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur congratulate India's gold medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar of the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Saina Nehwal who won the gold in women's singles badminton event of the Commonwealth Games 2010 during an interaction at PM house in New Delhi

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shakes hands with Union Sports Minister M S Gill during an interaction programme with Indian medal winners of the Commonwealth Games 2010 at PM house in New Delhi

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulates silver medallist gymnast Ashish Kumar during an interaction programme with Indian medal winners of the Commonwealth Games 2010 at PM house in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Gold medallist Saina Nehwal of India kisses her medal on the podium after the women's singles final badminton event of the XIX Commonwealth Games at the Siri Fort sports complex in New Delhi. The great home favourite made the last match of the tournament the most dramatic, surviving by about one inch near the end of the second game in a 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 victory over the second seeded Wong Mew Choo

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



India's gold winners Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang hold Indian flag after the men's Pairs 10m Air Rifle shooting event at the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Abhinav Bindra of India competes in the men's Pairs 10m Air Rifle shooting event at the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Bindra won the gold medal

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Ravinder Singh of India celebrates winning the gold medal in the 60 kg category of the Greco-Roman wrestling at the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



India's Vijay Kumar and Gurpreet Singh pose with their gold medals for pairs 25 metre rapid fire pistol shooting during the awards ceremony during the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



India's Krishna Poonia celebrates her gold medal during the discus women final of the Track and Field competition of the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Suranjoy Mayangbam of India poses with his Gold medal during the medal ceremony after victory in his flyweight 52kg boxing bout against Benson Njangiru of Kenya at The Talkatora Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. Mayangbam scored a walkover.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji, Manjeet Kaur and Mandeep Kaur celebrate their gold medal in the women's 4x400m relay final of the Track and Field competition of the XIX Commonwealth Games.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



India's Krishna Poonia celebrates her gold medal during the discus women final of the Track and Field competition of the XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:

CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS


MEET SAINA NEHWAL:

Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990) is an Indian Khel Ratna winning badminton player currently ranked number 3 in the world by Badminton World Federation. Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina Nehwal made history on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta. (The Super Series tournament is roughly equivalent to a Grand Slam in tennis).

Saina won her second career Super Series title by winning the Singapore Open title on June 20, 2010. She completed a hat-trick in the same year by winning the Indonesian Open on June 27, 2010. This win resulted in her rise to 3rd ranking and subsequently to No. 2. This remains her highest career ranking.

Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008, with the former All England champion and national coach Pullela Gopichand being her mentor. Saina was born in Hisar, Haryana and has spent her entire life in Hyderabad, India. Her foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. She is the top ranked player (women) in Indian Badminton history.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:


Saina was born in 1990 in a Jat family from Haryana. Her birth was a big disappointment to her grandmother as grandma wanted a boy

In December 1998, Saina's father took her to meet Coach Nani Prasad at the Lal Bahadur Shastri 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 years old at the time, would wake at 4am every morning and head to the stadium which was 25 km away. After two hours of practice, Singh would drop Saina at school on his way to work. Sitting behind her father on his scooter, Saina would often fall asleep on these journeys which prompted her mother to accompany them for the next three months.

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. In 2004, BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) signed the rising star onto their payroll, and she is also supported by Olympic Gold Quest.

Saina Nehwal won 2010 Commonwealth games gold in Womens Singles Shuttle badminton held in Siri Fort Auditorium, Delhi,on 14th October 2010.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:


Saina was the under-19 national champion. Saina created history by the winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first player to do so.

In 2006, Saina appeared on the global scene when she became the first Indian woman to win a 4-star tournament, the Philippines Open. Entering the tournament as the 86th seed, Saina went on to stun several top seeded players including number seed Huaiwen Xu before defeating Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia for the title. The same year also saw Saina as runner up at the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships, where she lost a hard fought match against top seed Chinese Wang Yihan. She did one better in the 2008 by becoming the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships by defeating ninth seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato 21-9, 21-18.

She became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals at the Olympic Games when she upset world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller. In the quarter-finals Saina lost a nail biting 3-gamer to world number 16 Maria Kristin Yulianti. In September 2008, she won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2008 beating Li Ya Lydia Cheah of Malaysia 21-8 21-19. Maria Yulianti had earlier lost her quarter-final match to Pia Bernadet, Saina's semi-final opponent, thus denying Saina a rematch.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:


DEFINATELY SHE CAN GET INTO BOLLYWOOD:

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:



Saina has been named The Most Promising Player in 2008. She reached the world super series semifinals in the month of December 2008.

On 21 June 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title, the most prominent badminton series of the world by winning the Indonesia Open. She beat Chinese Wang Lin in the final 12-21, 21-18, 21-9. Saina on winning the tournament said "I had been longing to win a super series tournament since my quarter final appearance at the Olympics". Saina is on the par with the likes of Prakash Padukone and her mentor Pullela Gopichand who both won the all England championships which are of similar status to the super series. In August 2009 she reached the quarterfinals of world championship losing to the second seed Lin Wang. Saina Nehwal was rewarded with Arjuna award in August, 2009 and her coach Gopichand was also rewarded with Dronacharya award at the same time.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:



Saina has been signed up by Olympic Gold Quest to support her in fulfilling her dream of winning the Olympic gold medal. Saina has been awarded with Padma Shri award in January 2010. Saina is brand ambassador of Deccan Chargers, an Indian Premier League team owned by Deccan chronicle. She has also became one of the 8 brand ambassadors of 2010 Commonwealth Games held on New Delhi India

Her strategy, at the beginning of 2010, was to ignore ranking points and focus her energies on premier tournaments. That seems to be working as she has won three titles (including two in India), and has reached the semis of two majors. With the World Championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games coming up, her preparation couldn’t have been better. Saina has been awarded with the highest national sporting award given to players, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on 29 August 2010.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:



On October 14th 2010 won gold medal against Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in CWG delhi and made an unforgettable moment in india's badminton history.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:

Saina is being wooed by 12 big companies

That may be a puny amount compared to what a Brand Dhoni commands (Rs 200 crore for a three-year deal). Cricketers like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan continue to rule the charts when it comes to brand endorsements and they charge anything between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore per brand association.

But the sharp gap between them and other sports stars is hardly a surprise considering India's obsession with cricket and movies.

- 'I would love to reach No 1 by this year-end'

Jagdeep Kapoor, chairman and managing director of Samsika Marketing Consultants, estimates a 200 per cent growth in Nehwal's brand value. And he is confident that it would go up by 1,000 per cent within a year.

While most say it is still some time before Nehwal signs up for endorsements as she wants to keep herself focused on the game, Bijoor thinks she would sign up some deals soon.

"We keep an internal track on which celebrity could endorse what brand and we have come to know that a lot of agencies are looking at using Nehwal for endorsements," says Bijoor.

He could be spot on.

For, Nehwal, who endorses just three companies/products at present, is being wooed by at least 12 big companies including a few multinationals.

She became a brand ambassador last year for Deccan Chargers promoted by media group Deccan Chronicle. That three-year deal happened when Nehwal was ranked number six in the world.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:


Badminton: Almost famous
It has taken Saina Nehwal three Super Series titles to gain celebrity status in India but she tells XPRESS her feet are still firmly grounded

Dubai: The ringtone on her cell phone, lines from a popular Hindi number which roughly translated means "why do you always talk about money and why are you so obsessed with it" can't be further from Saina Nehwal's outlook in life. For someone with increasing riches, money is possibly the last thing on her mind, as world badminton's brightest star told XPRESS in an exclusive interview from Hyderabad following her incredible feat of winning a hat-trick of titles.

"I just found that song very funny, which is why it has become my ringtone, The fact that it talks about money has nothing to do with the way I look at life. I am not after money, I can tell you that," she said, after finally getting some free time to herself following a hectic day of being honoured, dealing with the media and, finally, sleep.

"I landed in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning and since then it has been a blur really. I finally managed to catch up on some sleep later in the day," Nehwal added, still sounding a bit tired.

And tired she might be after winning the Indian Open, Singapore Open and the Indonesian Open - the last two being Super Series events - in the space of three weeks.

More relief than joy

"After winning the first two events, I was already weary. My physio actually did a great job and I managed to get through in Indonesia and defend my title, so it was more of a relief in the end," she said.

So, which of the two Indonesian Open titles does she cherish more?

"The first Super Series title is always special and I beat the then world No 1 on the way. But this year's is more special given that it was my third tournament win in a row," she said.

Having already risen to World No 3, this series of victories seems to have finally made her a celebrity in her country. "Well, one Super Series title should have been enough, but I guess it needed three in a row for me to become that," she said, tongue-in-cheek, before adding: "That of course won't change me as a person. I will still remain the same, with my feet firmly on the ground."

You would tend to believe her given how excited she was to receive a message from fellow Hyderabadi, tennis player Sania Mirza. "That was very sweet of Sania, sending a text to congratulate me," she said.

For now, it's rest and thereafter, it's the world championships where she will get to meet more of the Chinese. "I have almost cracked the Chinese puzzle. I always believed it is possible to beat them, I just had to be patient. I have improved on my stamina and defence and I now need to strengthen my net game to make that final jump. I am not overly concerned about the No 1 ranking since winning tournaments will take care of that," she said.

Rising graph

•The Indonesian Open was Nehwal's third Super Series title, having won the same title last year and the Singapore Open this year
•Nehwal's career best ranking of No 3 sees her sandwiched between six Chinese players at the top
•Her cumulative earnings from the three consecutive tournament wins this year amounted to over $42,000 (Dh154,000)

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Will have a look at a few more of the Indian Gold Medal Winners, after we get in a few more dazzling pictures of Saina.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET SAINA NEHWAL:



Saina Nehwal's has been a fairytale story this year (2010) with the ace shuttler reaching new heights both professionally and personally.

After winning back to back international titles and zooming to a career high world ranking of World No 2, the crowning glory came when she answered the prayers of an entire nation to win the Gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Saina's soaring fortunes on the badminton court have now made her a much sought after star in the endorsement circles with her brand value reaching a crore.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures handles Saina's account. Saina already endorses the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, Adani Wilmar's Fortune edible oil and Herbal life's nutritional product range.

According to industry analysts, Saina, who was charging around Rs. 50 lakh per endorsement, is now able to command Rs. 1 crore per deal after her CWG win.

The higher rate is also supported by Saina's hat-trick of wins at the Indian Open, Singapore Open and the Indonesia Open Super Series in June this year.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Saina's rise follows back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series respectively. By virtue of the consecutive titles earlier this month, Saina, with 64791.2637 points, made a significant upward movement in the chart and is just behind Chinese duo of Yihan Wang and Xin Wang.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Saina's previous best ranking was a fifth position which she attained in March this year after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the prestigious All England Super Series Championships. She had successfully lead the Indian Women Team to the Uber Cup finals, winning all her matches in March 2010.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



However, she dropped to the sixth position in the subsequent weeks. Saina is presently playing in the Indonesia Open and is well on course for a hat-trick of titles after reaching the quarterfinals of the Super Series event.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



She has come up the ranks and has won gold in the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games and World Junior Badminton Championships.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

MEET GAGAN NARANG:


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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

A strict fitness regime helped rifle-shooter Gagan Narang lose weight and win the gold medal in the three position event in the Chongwon World Cup in South Korea.

A strict fitness regime helped rifle-shooter Gagan Narang lose weight and win the gold medal in the three position event in the Chongwon World Cup in South Korea.

The 25-year-old Indian has been working out regularly for the past two-three months after he decided to focus on the three-position event.

The ‘considerable loss of weight’ helped him shoot well in kneeling and prone position en route to his gold as he became the first Indian to win two medals in a single ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup.

“I have been working hard on my fitness for past few months. I was quite worried as my scores were dropping in the standing position as the body setup was changing,” Gagan told IANS over phone from Chongwon.

According to reports received here, Gagan, who had won the bronze in his pet 10-metre air rifle event Friday, shot 1166 in the qualification round and 98 in the final, including two perfect 10s, to finish with a total of 1264 points for the gold.

Gagan shot 395 in prone, 382 in standing and 389 while kneeling in the qualification round for his tally of 1166.

“I didn’t shoot too well in standing here, but kneeling is coming up and that’s good. Kneeling position was troubling me since quite a long time and it shows an upward trend now,” he said.

Gagan also had to counter strong winds to win his fifth World Cup medal.

“The conditions were worse today. It was too windy and I had a tough time in adjusting to it,” he added.

South Korean Jinseop Han won the silver with a total score of 1261.9 (1165 qualifying+96.9 final) while the bronze went to Russian Alexei Kamenski, who shot a total of 1261.7 (1167 qualifying+94.7 final).

Among other Indians in the fray, Navy man Sanjeev Rajput finished sixth with 1258.7 (1160+98.7) while Sushil Ghalay couldn’t qualify for the finals as he finished 11th with a qualifying score of 1155.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



Gagan Narang, Shweta Chaudhary and Samaresh Jung stood out as India won three more team golds to swell its gold tally to 21 in the Commonwealth shooting championship at the Karni Singh Range in Tughlakabad on Friday.

It was the fifth medal and fourth gold for Narang, as he shot 596 in lifting the team to a new mark with Joydeep Karmkar (590) in the men’s 50-metre free rifle prone event. The Indian duo beat Australia by four points.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS



In Aug, 2010 Gagan has publicly expressed his displeasure after not getting the prestigeous Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and he threated to skip the 2010 Commonwealth Games due to lack of motivation. But he participated and won multiple gold medals.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS


WHO IS GAGAN NARANG?

Born on May 6, 1983, Hyderabad based Gagan Narang is an Indian shooter supported by Olympic Gold Quest. He is the first Indian who qualified for London Olympics.

HYDERABAD: The recent Guangzhou World Cup crown and four Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medals have shot Gagan Narang to the stratosphere. The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) gave him 1184 rating points, 20 more than the 2004 Athens Olympics titlist and second-ranked Qinan Zhu.

Mentors remembered

Just 22 years old, he has zoomed to the top early, but hasn't forgotten his many mentors along the way. The Indian Airlines Deputy Manager places his parents B.S. Narang and Amarjit on a pedestal.

Narang Sr., more a friend, ribs Gagan about girlfriends and so on, but knows the sport's pitfalls, having tried his hand at the range. Mama's forever spurring her son, pinpointing the nines, when he should have scored tens!

Helping him find his feet was Niranjan Reddy. Gagan's stance wasn't right when aiming for the bull's eye at Country Club, Begumpet and Reddy rectified it.

The Hyderabad crackshot won his first G.V. Mavlankar title in the 50 metres three position borrowing Vikram Manney's rifle, shared by three shooters. Jitendra Nath provided the ammunition and practice venue at his Bowenpally home.

Gautam Gyanchandani, then the Twin Cities' best, was generous with his armoury. Late Mr. Joshi foresaw a future for the chubby teenager.

Papa's gesture

Papa Narang sold a Bowenpally plot to fund his son's passion. That could only buy a second hand rifle. When it developed snags, Abbas Hussain sorted them out. His trouble-shooting amazed engineers from Walther, a world leader in weapon making.

Kuhelee Ganguly imported German equipment, urging Samresh Jung to guide Gagan. Over time, Jung and Narang became buddies.

For his first international break, Gagan's grateful to Prof. Sunny Thomas. It was the National Chief Coach and Dronacharya Awardee who fielded Gagan in the 2003 Afro Asian Games.

Many Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) bureaucrats backed him. Its former Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Asok Kumar, now Collector of Kadapa, gave him material assistance, so vital in this expensive sport.

Gagan's indebted to coaches Laszlo Scuszak and Tibor Gonczol for his international conquests.

To the Olympic gold, there are still miles to go. "So many cupboards at home need filling up (with medals and trophies)," he concludes.

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CWG2010: INDIAN GOLDS: THE WINNERS

Medal record
Men's shooting

Commonwealth Games
Gold 2006 Melbourne 10m Air Rifle Individual
Gold 2006 Melbourne 10m Air Rifle (Pairs)
Gold 2006 Melbourne 50m Rifle 3 Positions Individual
Gold 2006 Melbourne 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Pairs) [1]
Gold 2010 Delhi 10m Air Rifle Individual
Gold 2010 Delhi 10m Air Rifle (Pairs)
Gold 2010 Delhi 50m Rifle 3 Positions Individual
Gold 2010 Delhi 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Pairs)