It is okay, many people will think my career will end and I wont come back. I also think somewhere deep in my heart that maybe it is the end of my career, so lets see how it is. Maybe, you never know.Saina Nehwal is stretching after a long training session at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts in Bangalore. Her knee hurts. Its only been a few weeks since it went under a surgeons knife. It hurts when she lunges. It hurts when she leaps to smash. It hurts when she slides sideways to retrieve. This damn knee that started hurting a week before she was to leave for Rio de Janerio for her third Olympic games. That hurt all the way on the flight there. That really hurt as she hobbled through her first match. That excruciatingly hurt as she limped out of the Games on losing her second match.It has been a little over a week since Saina got back on the training court. It has been hard. Coach Vimal Kumar, a genial man with a warm smile, is in no hurry. He intentionally mellows the intensity of their sessions. Saina, usually a terrier around court, is visibly slower. Her movements are noticeably lethargic, her mobility obviously impaired. Being bed ridden for over a month has meant theres been no access to the gym. So she is carrying a couple of extra kilos.She grunts and moans as shuttles fall in front of her despairing racquet. She hollers an Arrey as false shots clamp into the net. She flails her arms exasperated as she fails to reach one. Once the worlds top ranked player, Saina can feel it, deep in her heart, that at least in this moment she is a shadow of the beastly athlete with the glittering CV. She is learning to accept. To concede.I just want to work hard, I just want to take care of my body and keep working on the areas that were weak and not think about winning or losing, she philosophically muses. I will be more than happy if people think I am finished, it is nice in a way, people think a lot about me, maybe now they wont!I am going to think about the next one year, it is year by year now, I am not going to set a target for the next 5-6 years now. My mind may change in the next one, two or three years, so for me it is just about how to take care of my body and be in good shape because these injuries are quite painful. Even if I win a tournament, the happiness is not so much because of the amount of pain the injury gives.In sport, pain is a professional hazard. Athletes learn to embrace its presence within their bodies. In Rio, as a vicious pain sent tremors through her tiny frame, Saina stayed resolute, never allowing the world outside access to the agony. On inspecting her knee when she returned, the surgeon operating on Saina was gobsmacked she even stepped onto court. For Saina, once she was at the Olympics, not competing was not a choice. It was confronting the demons when she returned that was the real challenge. She remembers turning one night to her mother, a constant companion through the ups and downs, to ask, This is so painful, what will happen now?Kya ho guya, nothing has happened, just play, Saina remembers hearing from her mother in response. She is the one who has made me stand here again today, she is always supporting me. I am so happy I have such wonderful parents who in the worst times also are very strong. So many parents crack at such a point, but hats off to both of them, so very strong, more than me I would say.Besides her mother and the ever encouraging Vimal, Saina also found specialist advice from Heath Matthews, an expert in sports science and medicine who is working out of Mumbai. As she lay in bed after surgery, Saina remembers Matthews assuring voice telling her Dont worry, we will make you get back soon. An achilles tendon issue had scuppered the latter half of her season last year and forced her out for the first three months of 2016. The flare up in her knee ahead of Rio has alerted Saina to a pattern. Matthews and his team are now focused on strengthening her legs and gluteal muscles - in essence rebuilding her body after years of rigorous work on an ultra-competitive circuit.The return to competitive play is being carefully charted out. For now, Saina is entered to play at the China Open from November 15, followed by the Hong Kong Open from November 22. A final call on her participation will be taken in the next few days. Saina says she is keen just to play matches without concerning herself with the results. She recognises that she wont be 100% even if she does step onto the court in China but insists she will try her best. Her endeavour is to stay in contention for the year ending Superseries Finals in Dubai, contested between an elite field of the worlds top eight players. Saina is currently eighth on the rankings table for this event, which is tabulated differently to the world rankings. She can sneak in with reasonable performances at these two tournaments.However, it is blatantly evident that her body isnt willing just yet to fully co-operate with a desperate mind. At the end of a several rapid exchanges with her sparring partner, Saina gulps in air and bends over for an extended period to gather her breath. When she rests courtside, toweling the sweat down, a steely gaze, seemingly staring into nothing overtakes her face. Around her, eager kids are learning the ropes, hustling around an arena reverberating with the sounds of shuttles exploding off racquets. Saina Nehwal, all of 26 years old, already sounds like she has lived a lifetime in the sport.It does mean a lot to me because otherwise I wouldnt be back here playing, she says. I started playing badminton because my parents liked this sport, I didnt like it. I just wanted to give my best and win as much as possible. I am happy that I have won so much - the number one ranking, an Olympic medal, a world championship medal, stood on the podium for all the big events - so I am happy about that. I dont have to set any target now, it is just to stay fit and if I am happy and doing well, the results will follow but I am not thinking much about that at the moment.It is time to get back up. To play. Keep hurting, you damned knee. Kevin Byard Titans Jersey . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Custom Tennessee Titans Jerseys . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. http://www.titansstoreonline.com/Black-9-Steve-Mcnair-Womens-Jersey/ . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. A.J. Brown Womens Jersey . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. Warren Moon Titans Jersey . The head of USA Boxing came out swinging Tuesday with an open letter to Tyson -- a former Olympic hopeful himself -- that accuses the former heavyweight champion of trying to poach fighters who might be candidates for the U.In 1996, rugby league turned its back on 101 years of history to enter a momentous new Super League era. The new competition moved the action from winter to summer and kicked off with the meeting of Paris St Germain and Sheffield Eagles in front of 17,873 supporters at the Stade Sébastien Charléty.Freddie Banquet scored the first ever Super League try and Paris clinched a landmark victory thanks to a brace from Arnaud Cervello. Gary Hetherington was in charge of the Eagles on that famous night. Now chief executive of Leeds Rhinos, he admits there was some uncertainty about the direction the sport was taking in 1996 but the creation of Super League has provided provided more stability and structure. Players pose with the Super League trophy ahead of the inaugural 1996 season He told Sky Sports News HQ: It was an exciting time for the sport but it was also a really uncertain time. The Paris-Sheffield Eagles game set this competition alight. Nearly 18,000 people turned up, a wildly enthusiastic French crowd, and against the odds the Paris team won.Super League was a new competition, the sport had moved to the summer, the players had become full-time and there was more money in the game.But in many ways the sport was treading into the unknown. It was the first time ever that video referees had been employed and big screen decision were made.It was an innovative time for the sport and those 20 years have passed very quickly. There has been a lot of advances in the sport and we have now got a lot of stability and structure, and a platform to move forward. Gary Hetherington The improvement in facilities and standard of play have been the biggest changes over the past 20 years, says Hetherrington.ddddddddddddWhen we look back the original 12 clubs in Super League included teams like Workington and their stadium at Derwent Park. Halifax were at Thrum Hall, Oldham at the Watersheddings, Sheffield Eagles at Don Valley Stadium.All these stadiums are gone, as has the Central Park stadium Wigan played at and St Helens Knowsley Road, so there has been a complete transformation in the stadiums our supporters see games played in.That has probably been the most positive move forward but the move to summer has undoubtedly been a success, from the whole standard of play to players becoming full-time. Leeds Rhinos were victorious in Super Leagues 20th season The sport now enjoys more spectators and viewers on TV. There has been a big transformation both in the way the game is played and how it is seen by spectators, and all of those changes have been for the good.Of course, 20 years ago people were dreaming about Super League being played in Madrid and Barcelona and a whole range of European cities. That has never materialised and the Paris club only lasted two years, but they have been replaced by Catalans Dragons, who are one of the strongest clubs in the competition. It still has the French flavour about it.The creation of Super League 20 years ago brought a lot of uncertainty to the game. Established clubs like Widnes, Hull and Hull KR werent part of the competition but they are now.The traditional clubs very much make up the Super League and the Championship is a very vibrant competition, as well as the community game below that.There has been a lot of advances in the sport and we have now got a lot of stability and structure, and a platform to move forward. Watch 20 Years of Super League on Sky Sports 1 HD on Tuesday at 10.15pm Also See: Rugby League on Sky Fixtures and results Follow @SkySportsRL Pundits ' ' '
