KUALA LUMPUR: If there's one piece of advice that Saina Nehwal would like to share with the younger generation, it's to limit their smartphone usage.
The Indian women's singles shuttler, introduced as a new member of the Yonex Legends' Vision family on Monday, stressed the significant sacrifices required to become a champion.
Now at the tailend of her career, Saina made history as the first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal back in 2012.
Speaking to the press after being unveiled at a special ceremony here, Saina said: "One thing today's generation may need to do is cut off the phone. You see two or three-year-olds playing with their phones for such a long time.
"You know, sometimes we don't know what is going to happen in the future, but now everything is on the phone, there are so many things to do.
"But to be a sportsperson, you have to sacrifice so many things. Whenever I give motivational talks all over India, people always ask me about what it takes to be a world champion.
"To be a top athlete, we train about 12-14 hours a day. Apart from that, we only have time to eat, sleep, and then it's back to training again.
"So if you have a dream to be something, to be a champion, the efforts and sacrifice must be equal to that.
"In any career, you have to kill yourself physically and be strong mentally because there are no shortcuts to success.
"Results will only come if you give 100 per cent."
The 33-year-old, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, also highlighted the privilege that athletes today have in terms of support and facilities.
"I got my first physiotherapist when I was 20. Today, athletes aged 12-13 must have physiotherapists and physical trainers.
"They need to make full use of this," she added.
Apart from Saina, the other women's singles shuttler included in the Yonex Legends' Vision list is three-time former world champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
Marin could not attend the unveiling event and even had to skip the ongoing Malaysia Open after coming down with influenza.
The other five members of the elite club are former world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei, five-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan of China, Denmark's Peter Gade, Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat and South Korea's Lee Yong Dae.