RIO DE JANIERO: On any other day, it would have been a simple walk in the park. Not on Thursday. Saina Nehwal’s opponent is ranked 73 and all she has won until now is a Pan American Games silver medal. Nehwal is world No 5 and she has won an Olympic medal among others in the closet. There was a partisan crowd egging her opponent Lohaynny Vicente on, at Rio Centro Pavilion 4. The girl from the favelas was the darling of the masses. She is the first Brazilian woman badminton player to take part in Olympics.
Chants of 'Brazil, Brazil' and boos whenever you win a point can be unnerving. For Lohaynny, it was pumping her adrenaline up. "I couldn’t have played better," she said, after losing to Saina 17-21, 17-21 in Group G. "She is ranked way above me and I knew I could never have beaten her. I came close because of the crowd."
As a kid, she never dreamt of Olympics. All she wanted was food and shelter. Lohaynny was born in the favelas of Rio. When she was four and her sister Luana — also a badminton player — six, their father was killed in a shootout with the police. He was a drug dealer. After his death, Vicente’s mother moved the family from the west of the city to Chacrinha, a favela in the north of Rio. Things started changing after she joined a community badminton programme. She started playing well and was called up to the Brazilian team. Now she lives in Campinas, Sao Paulo in a house funded by the Badminton Association of Brazil. She is 20 now.
"I started playing badminton from the age of six," said Lohaynny. "It was through a community programme for children. I started doing well and am really excited to be part of the Olympics."
Saina’s task was not Herculean but she needed to dig deep to overcome a booing crowd to win. She showed patience. The first game is usually when you settle your nerves and get used to the conditions. Pressure can be cruel and can force errors even when it looks a routine task. Saina netted her first serve of the Olympics. But then, that’s part of the game. Until at 17 points, Saina and the home favourite were going neck and neck. She did not manage to take a big lead. Thereafter, Saina slowly ambled her way ahead with deep court play. In the second game however, she did not let her opponent seize the advantage.
"It is not easy to play in front of a partisan crowd," said Saina after the victory. "In fact, she played better than me today. She was retrieving the ball better and was hitting them well. She was good, very good. So I had to change strategies in between."
The court 3 apparently is faster than other courts. "It drifts in one end too," said the 26-year-old bronze medallist. "The first game is always tough. She might be ranked lower but you can’t take any opponent lightly."
While PV Sindhu was playing on the same court earlier, Spain’s Carolina Marin, who had a later match, was quietly sitting and watching her play. Sindhu did not have to sweat much against Laura Sarosi of Hungary in straight games 21-8, 21-9 in Group M.
This is Sindhu’s first Olympics and she is very excited. "I was very excited while on court," she said. "It was an easy match but this also gave us an opportunity to get used to the conditions," she said. "We prepare for everything."