Personal Life:-
Saina Nehwal is an Indian professional badminton singles player. She was born on 17 March 1990 in Hisar District, Haryana. Saina currently ranked number 1 in the world by the Badminton World Federation and is the first Indian woman to achieve this feat.
Saina Nehwal is the second daughter of Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal. She has only one sibling, an elder sister named Chandranshu Nehwal. And completed her first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar. She did her (xii) from St. Ann’s College for the woman at Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad.
At the age of eight to express herself, Nehwal took up Badminton. She took up Badminton to fulfill her mother’s dream of becoming a national level Badminton player. Nehwal also has a brown belt in Karate.
She and her family still speak the Haryanvi language at home. She married fellow Badminton player Parupalli Kashyap in a private ceremony on December 14, 2018.
Awards and Accolades:-
*Arjuna Award: 2009
*Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: 2009-2010
*Padma Shri: 2010
For winning the bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics, she received:-
*1 crore rupees cash award from the Haryana Government.
*Got 50 Lakh rupees cash award from the Rajasthan Government
*50 lakh rupees cash award from the Andhra Pradesh Government.
*10 Lakh rupees cash award from the Badminton Association of India.
*An honorary doctorate degree by Mangalayatan University.
Achievements:-
1. London Olympics 2012(Bronze): – On 4th August 2012, Saina Nehwal created history. She became the first Indian to win a medal at the Olympics winning the Bronze Medal. The 24-year old woman is also the second Indian woman to win an Olympic Medal.
2.China Open Super Series Tournament 2014(Winner): – In 2014 China Open Tournament went very well for India as Saina Nehwal won the women’s title. It makes a historical event for the country.
It was such a great victory for Saina as it was her sixth shot at the title having failed the first five times. Indian Badminton star Saina Nehwal beat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi quite convincingly winning in straight games 21-12, 22-20.
3.All England Tour Finals (Runner up): – This year’s All England Tour Finals was heartbreaking for Badminton fans across India because of Saina’s loss. The whole nation was expecting Saina to clinch the title for the first time in 14 after her coach Gopichand won the title in 2000.
Saina also started as the favorite because she had already won three matches against the Spaniard in the past.
4.Delhi Common Wealth Games 2010 (One Gold and One Silver): – She won the mixed team Silver at the CWG 2006 in Melbourne. The CWG 2010 was even better as she won the Gold medal in the singles and a mixed team Silver.
In the finals, she got better of Malaysian Mew Choo Wong in a thrilling contest. Saina bounced back from a game down to win the match 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in an epic 70-minute clash.
Needless to say, Saina also became the first Woman Shuttler to win CWG Gold.
5.World Junior Championship 2008 (Winner): – Among her many firsts Saina became the first Indian woman to win the World Junior Badminton Championships in 2008, which was held in Pune.
Top-seeded at the event
Saina got the better of Japanese rival Sayaka Sato 21-9, 21-18 convincingly in the match. Her performance was so convincing. Over the course of the event that the former coach Pullela Gopichand claimed. And for this Saina played like a champion all through the tournament.
A former world number 1, Saina Nehwal has won over 24 international titles. And it includes eleven super series titles. Although she reached the world’s second in 2009. It was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world number 1 ranking. She became the only female player from Indian. Overall she became the second Indian player after Prakash Padukone to achieve the feat.
