When pitted against the average man’s 50, Usain Bolt’s muscle composition includes 80 per cent fast-twitch fibres (sprinting facilitators), giving him an added advantage on the field. Swimmer Michael Phelps, on the other hand, apparently produces half the amount of lactic acid of a typical athlete, which implies that his muscles recover significantly faster than that of his competitors. Not negating the insurmountable toil that goes into their victories, genetic predisposition plays a crucial role in determining athletes’ success. Of course, celebrities imitating athletes for cinematic adaptations need not be sporting mavericks. Yet, surely some discussion on their tendencies to play a sport may make for discussion during the casting process. Eshan Naqvi, one among Parineeti Chopra’s trainers for the upcoming film, Saina, says the actor’s “hand-to-eye-coordination” skills gave her an edge. Another factor that helped her learn the tropes of badminton was her training in kalaripayattu and yoga. “Flexibility is a key factor in badminton because the shuttle can move in any direction. A player should be able to move and twist accordingly — pull herself, and turn in any direction. We needed to build the kind of endurance that would aid her in this sport. The endurance you build as a runner doesn’t help you here, because it is [sports-specific],” says Naqvi, adding that footwork training was among the few things that Chopra was taught, early on in the process of readying her to play Saina Nehwal.
 
“Just like choreography in dance, badminton needs one to learn movements to conserve energy. An athlete must only take as many steps as is needed. Parineeti hasn’t played the sport before, so we had to build muscle endurance, and power, and teach her to focus on the shuttle.” Given that he had only seven months to prepare the actor, Naqvi says he had to address different requirements, simultaneously. “We didn’t have time to indulge in the basics because there was a lot that she needed to learn. We were teaching her explosive work, because the higher that an athlete jumps and catches the shuttle, the more the advantage she has. We had to also cater to [advance] work at the same time. Sometimes, she would need to gather herself. When she was shooting in London for The Girl on the Train, she would wake up at 5 am to train. When she was unwell, and couldn’t run, we’d merely make her stand and hit the shuttle.” 

Chopra with Vad and Naqvi during the training sessions