I don't like conflicts, says Saina Nehwal
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/london-olympics-2012/news/I-dont-like-conflicts-says-Saina-Nehwal/articleshow/15020000.cms
While there has been so much noise in the Indian sports fraternity with regards to the Olympics - be it the tennis controversy, or the innumerable felicitations and interviews - you seem to be one sportsperson who has been avoiding public appearances. Why?
I am actually doing what I am required and expected to be doing. I am a sportsperson and my first and the most important job is to play well and make my country proud. I have been training hard to put up a good show in London. I do appreciate the felicitations because they motivate us further to do well, and the interviews because the media generates awareness about the sport we play, but I think it needs to be understood that I can't be giving interviews all the time. Similarly, I can't be making appearances at any and every event because I have to utilise my time in training. I have not been deliberately avoiding appearances, I am not in hiding, it's just that training and practice are more important to me.
So, have you turned down offers to make public appearances?
Why just appearances? I have turned down so many endorsements. My phone never stops ringing. In the run up to the Olympics, people have been calling me constantly for some thing or the other - felicitations, endorsements, interviews, shoots, etc. It was becoming too much to handle. Finally, I started diverting them all to my manager. There have been so many endorsement offers that my manager had to turn down on my behalf so that I was left with time to just concentrate on my game.
I am actually doing what I am required and expected to be doing. I am a sportsperson and my first and the most important job is to play well and make my country proud. I have been training hard to put up a good show in London. I do appreciate the felicitations because they motivate us further to do well, and the interviews because the media generates awareness about the sport we play, but I think it needs to be understood that I can't be giving interviews all the time. Similarly, I can't be making appearances at any and every event because I have to utilise my time in training. I have not been deliberately avoiding appearances, I am not in hiding, it's just that training and practice are more important to me.
So, have you turned down offers to make public appearances?
Why just appearances? I have turned down so many endorsements. My phone never stops ringing. In the run up to the Olympics, people have been calling me constantly for some thing or the other - felicitations, endorsements, interviews, shoots, etc. It was becoming too much to handle. Finally, I started diverting them all to my manager. There have been so many endorsement offers that my manager had to turn down on my behalf so that I was left with time to just concentrate on my game.