Saina Nehwal

About Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal (pronunciation is an Indian professional badminton singles player. A former world no. 1, she has won over 24 international titles, which includes eleven Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in the 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world no. 1 ranking, thereby becoming the only female player from India and overall the second Indian player – after Prakash Padukone – to achieve this feat. She has represented India three times in the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in her second appearance.Nehwal has achieved several milestones in badminton for India. She is the only Indian to have won at least one medal in every BWF major individual event, namely the Olympics, the BWF World Championships, and the BWF World Junior Championships. She is the first Indian badminton player to have won an Olympic medal, the first Indian to have reached the final of the BWF World Championships, along with being the only Indian to have won the BWF World Junior Championships.

Considered one of the most successful Indian sportspersons, she is credited for increasing the popularity of badminton in India. In 2016, the Government of India (GoI) conferred the Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award – on her. Previously, the nation's top two sporting honours, namely the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award, were also conferred on her by the Government of India. Nehwal is a philanthropist and was ranked 18th on the list of most charitable athletes.

Nehwal became the under-19 national champion and created history by winning the "Asian Satellite Badminton tournament" (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first player to do so. In May 2006, at age 16, she became the first Indian woman and the youngest player from Asia to win a 4-star tournament – the Philippines Open. Entering the tournament as the 86th seed, she went on to stun several top seeded players including the then world number two Xu Huaiwen before defeating Julia Wong Pei Xian of Malaysia for the title.

Two years after losing the final to Wang Yihan, she became first Indian to win World Junior Badminton Championships by defeating ninth seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato 21–9, 21–18. She participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she was unseeded. She began her fight with a win against Russian Ella Diehl (2–0) in Round 1 & Ukrainian Larisa Griga (2–0) in 2nd round. She became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals when she upset reigning Asian Games champion no. four seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller. In the quarter-finals Nehwal lost a 3-gamer to world number 16 Maria Kristin Yulianti. Nehwal was leading 11–3 in the decider but couldn't hold on against her opponent and lost the match with 28–26, 14–21, 15–21 scoreline.In September 2008, she won the Chinese Taipei Open 2008 beating Lydia Cheah Li Ya of Malaysia 21–8, 21–19. She was also a semifinalist at the China Masters Superseries after she beat reigning World Champion Zhu Lin in quarterfinals. Nehwal was named "The Most Promising Player" by the Badminton World Federtion in 2008. She qualified for the season ending Superseries Finals which consists of most consistent players of the year. She defeated Pi Hongyan and Wong Mew Choo in early rounds. She lost to Tine Baun in Round 3. She entered semifinals but lost to Wang Chen with scores 21–15, 14–21, 16–21.

She won her firs...

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