#Saina Squad: It's good to have a personal army of fans in international games, says Nehwal
LEADING INDIAN SHUTTLER Saina Nehwal had her own personal army of fans cheering on the world no. 2 at the BWF World Superseries finals held in Dubai.
Dubbed the ‘Saina Squad’, the group comprised 20 fans who had flown by broadcaster Star Sports to Dubai to lend their support to the Badminton icon.
The initiative was conceived by India’s largest sports broadcaster after Nehwal expressed her wish to have home support at an overseas venue in a media interview.
The 20 fans picked to be part of the Saina Squad were shortlisted after a series of contests conducted across social media platforms, ranging from quiz contests and online treasure hunts to the solving of a puzzle featuring Saina’s top moments.
See below a video, the reaction Saina Squad meeting their shuttler face to face
The moment they were waiting for! The #SainaSquadInDubai were over the moon as @NSaina met with them face to face! https://t.co/R5Fq6Aief1
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 11, 2015
The courtside presence of the Saina Squad, vociferously cheering their favourite shuttler with chants of ‘Saina, Saina’ and ‘India, India’, has been a source of great encouragement for Nehwal.
Struggling with injury, she faced an early exit in Dubai after losing her opening league tie against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. But, egged on by the Saina Squad, Nehwal struck back at her next match against world no. 1 Carolina Marin of Spain.
“The support I have at home in India is phenomenal and while I do have followers internationally, there was still a certain buzz that was lacking while playing away from home,”
Nehwal said.
