PAU fondly remembers its date with world number 1 Saina Nehwal

Saina’s father Dr Harvir Singh, a renowned entomologist, had many a scientist congratulating him on her achievement.

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Speaking to Ludhiana Newsline, Dr D R C Bakhetia, senior entomologist who retired from PAU few years back and worked with Saina’s father on various projects, said, “Relations with Harvir were more personal than professional.

Being a professor at Hisar Agricultural University (HAU), Haryana, we worked for various projects together. He regularly visited PAU for exchange of information, attending seminars and meetings, and he mostly came with family. We would see little Saina and never imagined that she would be a world number 1 badminton player one day.”

Bakhetia added, “Harvir said that she is the same Saina who would visit my home at PAU whenever she visited Punjab. He was saying that he never imagined that Saina would touch the number 1 ranking.”

Saina visited the PAU campus in Ludhiana almost five-six times in her childhood and her family would stay at Bakhetia’s place. “I also visited them at HAU on official visits, as Harvir and I were working on oilseed crops. I clearly remember how he refused to move to Delhi from Hyderabad after he was offered a promotion by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He told that he did not want Saina’s game to get affected,” said Bakhetia.

Pardeep Chuneja, a professor of entomology from PAU whose bee-keeping project was reviewed by Saina’s father few years back, said, “Dr Harvir always talked about his dream to see Saina shine in the badminton world.”
The Entomology Department of PAU also sent their wishes to Dr Harvir Singh on Saturday.