Saina Nehwal, the rising teen badminton prospect from India, narrowly missed out on a junior World championship title this week. But her loss in the final should not detract from her awesome form and talent… and of course, the tremendous potential she possesses to be the next world-beater in badminton. With a coach like the quietly efficient Pullela Gopichand at hand, Saina has good things going for her. She needs all the encouragement in the form of top-notch training and consistent sponsorship.

But at the same time, the greatest dis-service that can be done to her is to inordinately hype her up to a point where she ends up becoming a poster girl for badminton rather than a true blue badminton champion. And it’s alarming to note that the media that was oblivious to her junior world championship campaign, suddenly jumped in on her entry into the finals and painted her as the star that she is yet to become. Of course, Saina needs all the publicity as that gets the whole country behind her, in spirit as well as in terms of sponsorships, etc. Because when that happens, she can concentrate purely on her game without worrying about the fringe details that may distract her. But can we please have some sense of responsibility from the media? Can we expect that we won’t be subjected to stories and pictures in the media (print, broadcast and online) that concentrate on the newest pair of ear-rings she sports or the cheekiest lines on the t-shirts she wears!

I voice this fear based on the obvious example of Sania Mirza, who undoubtedly is the best tennis talent we have produced since Hesh and Lee, and yet has hardly done justice to her talent. For all the talent she showed in her first year in international tennis, all she’s managed in the second is a great put-on American accent and an attitude worthy of a Bollywood starlet! It would be a shame to see Saina go down the same route.

So just let’s leave Saina Nehwal alone and let her concentrate on what she does best - play good badminton and win matches consistently!