Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is a great honour: Saina

HYDERABAD: Saina Nehwal's purple patch has just got an extension. Four weeks after the nation celebrated her terrific triple - hat-trick of wins at Indian Open, Singapore Super Series and Indonesia Super Series - the government bestowed upon her the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the highest sporting honour in the country.

Surprisingly, the champion shuttler is not celebrating, rather she does not have time to celebrate. Her coach Pullela Gopichand insisted that she should not skip evening practice.

Worse still, she'll be doing the 'super circuit' considered the most difficult and energy sapping session of the whole week. "I am ecstatic. It's a great honour, the best I got and one of my long term dreams. But I wish it was not announced on Friday."

"Notwithstanding the hard work, I am enjoying every moment of my career. This award brings more responsibility to me and I'll work hard to bring more honour for the country," Saina said.

After the customary congratulations she expected her coach to give her an off. "He patted me and told me to sleep in the afternoon so that I can do the 'super circuit' session. I can't say no to him. It's a different experience going through the gruelling session even before the excitement of getting the award could sink in," Saina said.

The world number two thanked the government for the honour and said that though she got several honours nothing would match the Khel Ratna. "I know sportspersons die to get this Award. I am no different. I badly wanted to win it. I rate it as one of the biggest achievements of my life. I thank the government for this award. These things give us a lot of motivation and encourages us to work even harder," said Saina.

Incidentally, this is the third major award for her in the last one year. She won the Arjuna last August, Padma Shri this January and now the Khel Ratna.

President Pratibha Patil will present the award to Saina at a ceremony on August 29 in New Delhi. The award comprises a scroll of honour, medal and a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh.