Saina Nehwal, an Indian professional badminton player, was born on March 17, 1990 (pronunciation ⓧ). Saina Nehwal was formerly ranked number one in the world and has won 24 international championships, eleven of them Superseries. Even though she finished second in the world in 2009, she wasn’t able to take the top spot until 2015.
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This made her the only Indian woman player and the second Indian player overall, after Prakash Padukone, to accomplish this achievement. Saina Nehwal has competed in three Olympics as an Indian representative, taking home a bronze medal in her second trip to London in 2012.
In badminton, Nehwal has set numerous records for India. Saina Nehwal is the first Indian to have medalled in all three main BWF individual competitions—the Olympics, the World Championships, and the World Junior Championships—at least once. She has the records for being the first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal, make it to the BWF World Championship final, and win the BWF World Junior Championship.
Nehwal won a 4-star tournament in 2006, making history as the youngest Asian and the first girl from India. Moreover, she is the first Indian to win a Super Series championship. She led the Indian squad to victory in the 2014 Uber Cup, going undefeated and assisting India in earning their first-ever bronze medal. Nehwal also made Commonwealth Games history in 2010 and 2018 by being the first Indian to win two gold medals in singles competition.
Nehwal, one of the country’s most accomplished badminton players, is recognised for having contributed to badminton’s rise in popularity in India. The third-highest civilian honour in India, the Padma Bhushan, was given to her in 2016. Saina Nehwal had already won the Arjuna Award and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, the country’s two greatest athletic accolades. Nehwal is a philanthropist who came in at number eight on the 2015 list of athletes who give back the most.
Saina Nehwal Childhood
Born in Hisar, Saina Nehwal is the daughter of Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal. Chandranshu Nehwal is the name of her elder sister. Her father was employed at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. He holds a PhD in agricultural science . Saina Nehwal completed her first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar. She completed her studies in the 12th grade at Hyderabad’s St. Ann’s College for Women.
At the age of eight, she picked up badminton as a means of self-expression after her father was promoted and relocated from Haryana to Hyderabad. Her lack of proficiency in the local language prevented her from interacting with other children. Her parents were longtime badminton players.
Her mother, Usha Rani, competed in badminton at the state level in Haryana. While her sister played volleyball, Nehwal took up badminton to pursue her mother’s goal of becoming a national badminton player. Her father, one of the best badminton players in college, invested in her proper badminton training with his provident money. Her parents signed her up for a karate class when they moved to Hyderabad in 1998. Saina Nehwal attended for a year and became a brown belt.
Pullela Gopichand instructed her at his academy, the Gopichand Badminton Academy. She left Gopichand in 2014 and enrolled in the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore, where she trained with U. Vimal Kumar, the world number one player. She eventually went back to Gopichand’s tutelage in 2017. Gopichand claimed in his book Dreams of a Billion: India and the Olympic Games that he was devastated when she left him to train in Bangalore.
Saina Nehwal Career
from 2005 to 2007
At the age of fifteen, Nehwal defeated Aparna Popat in the championship match of an Asian Satellite event held in New Delhi in 2005.
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2006 saw Nehwal win her second Indian Asian Satellite tournament and become the under-19 national champion. Saina Nehwal won the Philippines Open, a 4-star tournament, in May at the age of 16, making history as the first Indian woman and the youngest player from Asia to do so. After starting the event as the 86th seed, she stunned a number of highly ranked players, including Huaiwen Xu, the world number two at the time, and went on to win the title against Malaysia’s Julia Wong Pei Xian.
Nehwal competed in the World Championships a few months after joining the international badminton circuit, when she was defeated by China’s Jiang Yanjiao. Nehwal advanced to the 2006 BWF World Junior Championship final that year, where she was defeated by top-seeded Chinese player Wang Yihan after a fierce battle. She participated in the Asian Games in Doha as well.
2013–2014
Nehwal made it to the All England Open semifinals in 2013, but Ratchanok Intanon, the three-time World Junior Champion, upset her. Saina Nehwal lost against Korean Bae Yeon-ju 21–23, 9–21, and now has another quarterfinal appearance at the World Championships. Saina Nehwal won the last group match against Bae Yeon-ju in three games, but she fell to Minatsu Mitani and Li Xuerui in the season-ending Superseries Finals held in Kuala Lumpur. She did not, however, make it to the semifinals.
Nehwal won the India Grand Prix Gold competition on January 26, 2014, defeating P.V. Sindhu, the bronze medallist in the World Championship, 21–14, 21–17. Nehwal emerged victorious in the Australian Open final on June 29, defeating Carolina Marín of Spain 21–18, 21–11. Because of her fitness concerns and the injuries she sustained during the Australian Open, she withdrew from the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She was defeated by Li Xuerui in the World Championships quarterfinals once more.
Saina Nehwal also competed at the Asian Games, losing to Wang Yihan in the quarterfinals. She defeated Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21–12, 22–20 in the championship match to become the first Indian player to win the China Open. She competed in the Superseries Finals and defeated Wang Shixian, the top seed, in all three of her group matches (2–0), Bae Yeon-ju (2–1), and Sung Ji-hyun (2–0). She advanced to the semifinals once more but was defeated by Tai Tzu-ying, the eventual champion, 21–11, 13–21, and 9–21.
2013–2014
Nehwal made it to the All England Open semifinals in 2013, but Ratchanok Intanon, the three-time World Junior Champion, upset her. Saina Nehwal lost against Korean Bae Yeon-ju 21–23, 9–21, and now has another quarterfinal appearance at the World Championships.[81] She won the last group match against Bae Yeon-ju in three games, but she fell to Minatsu Mitani and Li Xuerui in the season-ending Superseries Finals held in Kuala Lumpur. She did not, however, make it to the semifinals.
Nehwal won the India Grand Prix Gold competition on January 26, 2014, defeating P.V. Sindhu, the bronze medallist in the World Championship, 21–14, 21–17. Nehwal emerged victorious in the Australian Open final on June 29, defeating Carolina Marín of Spain 21–18, 21–11. Because of her fitness concerns and the injuries she sustained during the Australian Open, she withdrew from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Saina Nehwal was defeated by Li Xuerui in the World Championships quarterfinals once more. She also competed at the Asian Games, losing to Wang Yihan in the quarterfinals. She defeated Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21–12, 22–20 in the championship match to become the first Indian player to win the China Open. Saina Nehwal competed in the Superseries Finals and defeated Wang Shixian, the top seed, in all three of her group matches (2–0), Bae Yeon-ju (2–1), and Sung Ji-hyun (2–0). She advanced to the semifinals once more but was defeated by Tai Tzu-ying, the eventual champion, 21–11, 13–21, and 9–21.
2019
Saina Nehwal defeated Carolina Marín to win her maiden BWF Super 500 championship, the Indonesia Masters, when the latter had to leave the court due to an injury. In Guwahati, Assam, Nehwal was defending her national championship title. Citing a terrible playing surface, she declined to play her singles match. Nevertheless, she went on to win the national championship by defeating P. V. Sindhu, the top seed, 21–18, 21–15. Her fourth national title was this one. Her perfect record at the World Championships was ruined when she fell to Mia Blichfeldt in three intense games in the pre-quarterfinals, 21–15, 25–27, and 12–21.
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