Saina Nehwal - India's brightest hope for gold at 2012 London Olympics

World Ranking of Saina Nehwal

Current world ranking of Saina Nehwal (as of 16 Feb, 2012): 4
Highest World ranking of Saina Nehwal: 2

Saina Nehwal achieved her best rankings (World No. 2) on 15th July, 2010 after her gold medal in the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier 2011 just before the World Series. Saina Nehwal made it to the World Rankings in 2008 with a ranking of 140. Saina Nehwal made news in the World Rankings of Badminton at 9th position on 21st Jan 2010. Since then, she has gained never looked back and has consistently improved and achieved the world number 2 as her best performance at the international level.
There are 4 Chinese badminton players in the top 5 and the only Indian. India's hopes for the Olympic gold rests on Saina's capability to defeat these Chinese girls.

Major achievements of Saina Nehwal

1. 2011 Swiss Open Grand Prix - Gold Medal - Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win this championship. After her mediocre performance in 2011, this was a crown in her achievements as no other Indian has ever won the Swiss open Grand Prix

2. 2010 Hong Kong Super Series - Gold Medal - Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win this championship. Her amazing run in 2010 continued with this victory in the Hong Kong Super Series. This is again an important achievement as no other Indian has ever won the Hong Kong Super Series.

3. 2010 Commonwealth Games - Gold Medal - Saina Nehwal had won the bronze medal in the previous edition of Commonwealth Games and had deeply disturbed her for not winning the Gold. She fulfilled her dream and made India proud by winning the Gold medal eventually in 2010 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne.

4. 2010 Indonesia Open Super Series - Gold Medal - A Super Series is regarded as the highest championship in badminton. It is similar to the Grand Slam events in Tennis and Grand Prix in F1. Saina Nehwal completed a hat-trick of sorts after winning the Indonesian Open Super Series in 2010.

5. 2010 Singapore Open Super Series - Gold Medal - Another feather in Saina Nehwal's cap with Singapore Open Super Series. No Indian has ever achieved this feat of clinching the Singapore Series championship.

6. 2010 Indian Open Grand Prix - Gold Medal

7. 2009 Indian Open Grand Prix - Gold Medal

8. 2009 Indonesia Super Series - Gold Medal - Biggest international championship in badminton after the World Series championship. Winning this title was a big achievement for Saina Nehwal and this boosted her rankings and put her into the top 10 players in the world in 2009.

9. 2008 BWF World Junior Championships - Gold Medal

10. 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games - Gold Medal

11. 2008 Indian National Badminton Championships - Gold Medal

12. 2008 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix - Gold Medal

13. 2007 National Games of India - Gold Medal

14. 2006 Philippines Open - Gold Medal (First major international championship)

15. 2005 Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament - Gold Medal

Apart from these victories, Saina Nehwal made to the Quarter Finals of the Badminton World Federation's World Championships in 2010 and Badminton World Federation's World Championships 2011. These are the most respected tournaments in the world and a victory in these tournaments immediately makes news all over the world. Saina's performance has been outstanding so far. But she would definitely love to win this tournament in the upcoming editions.

Saina Nehwal also made it to the quarter finals of the Beijing Olympics 2008. She lost a very hard fought match against Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia who went on to win the Bronze medal. She cried after the match and made a promise to Gopichand to win the 2012 London Olympics gold medal.

Saina Nehwal also won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2006 becoming one of the youngest Indians to win a medal at these events at the age of 17. She won the gold medal in the next edtion of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Awards won by Saina Nehwal

August 2010 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
Award for excellence in the field of sports. Khel Ratna is India's highest honor in sports achievements. Saina Nehwal won this award at the age of 20 becoming one of the youngest sportsperson to have won this award. This award was bestowed upon her because of her phenomenal rise to world number 2 and victories in the Indonesian Super Series and Commonwealth and Olympics.

January 2010 Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in India. Saina Nehwal won the Padma Shri in Jan 2010 in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the field of sports in Badminton.

August 2009 Arjuna Award
Arjuna award is the second highest honor in field of sports for excellence after the Khel Ratna. Saina Nehwal recieved the Arjuna award from the President of India Pratibha Patil. Saina Nehwal dedicated this award to her mentor and coach Pullela Gopichand and her parents. At the age of 19, Saina Nehwal became one of the youngest players to have won the Arjuna award.

Profile of Saina Nehwal

Full Name: Saina Nehwal
Father's name: Dr. Harvir Singh
Mother's name: Usha Nehwal
Birth Place: Dhindar, Hisar, Haryana
Initial training: Hyderabad
Height: 5ft 5in
Wieght: 60kg
Mentor and coach: Pullela Gopichand (India)
Current Coach: Atik Jauhari (Indonesia)
Email: sainanehwal@gmail.com

Interesting facts about Saina Nehwal

• Saina Nehwal was discriminated for being a girl by her grandmother as she wanted a boy
• Saina Nehwal's parents are both state level badminton champions from Haryana
• Saina's mother took Saina to her badminton matches when she was less than a year old. Saina Nehwal used to laugh aloud alarmingly when she saw the badminton matches played by her mother.
• Saina Nehwal moved to Hyderabad at age of 5
• Saina Nehwal was spotted by Nani Prasad Rao at age of 8 and convinced her father to make her career in badminton
• Saina Nehwal's father took her to the badminton training centre on scooter every day at 4am. Saina Nehwal travelled almost 50km everyday just to train for 2 hours in the academy.
• Saina's mother started accompanying her to the academy as she started sleeping on her father's scooter and could have met with an accident
• Father Harvir Singh had to break provident find and savings money to support badminton accessories for Saina Nehwal
• Saina's mother called her Steffi Saina as she was a big fan of Steffi Graff. This nickname stuck with her during her initial training days. Later Saina convinced her parents to remove the prefix as she was a badminton player and Steffi Graff was a legend in tennis.
• Saina Nehwal won the under-10 state level badminton championship. Prize money - a meagre Rs. 300
• Saina Nehwal joined the Gopichand Badminton Academy at the age of 13. Pullela Gopichand found talent in her and has been coaching her and mentoring her since then. Saina gives all the credit to her success to Pulela Gopichand.
• Saina Nehwal is an ardent fan of Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer and love their determination and dedication
• Saina Nehwal is often compared to Sania Mirza, the tennis sensation. But Saina Nehwal doesn't like the comparison at all, She believes Sania Mirza is a better doubles player while she is a Singles player. Moreover, Saina Nehwal has won the World Super Series thrice which is similar to the Tennis Grand Slams while Sania Mirza has never won a single singles grand slam.
• Saina Nehwal trains for almost 10 hours everyday and doesn't have any social life.
• Saina Nehwal has not watched a movie, TV or had junk food in 7 years
• Saina Nehwal is the only feared player by the Chinese women badminton playes who rule the roost in badminton.
• Saina Nehwal feels it takes immense dedication to achieve excellence, which is lacking in most of the young players she comes across. She always advices all young players to dedicate themselves completely towards their passion.
• Saina Nehwal cried when she lost the quarter final match in Beijing Olympics. Gopichand couldn't make her feel better by lightening her mood. So, just to shock her out of it, Gopichand told her we will start practice at 6AM tomorrow. She shocked Gopichand instead by saying that "lets start it at 7AM sir"
• Saina Nehwal is the brand ambassador of Deccan Chargers
• Saina Nehwal's dream is to win an Olympics Gold Medal.

Saina Nehwal - India's brightest hope for gold at 2012 London Olympics

World Ranking of Saina Nehwal

Major achievements of Saina Nehwal

Awards won by Saina Nehwal

Profile of Saina Nehwal

Interesting facts about Saina Nehwal

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