Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990) is an Indian Khel Ratna winning badminton player currently ranked number 4 in the world by Badminton World Federation.[4] Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina Nehwal made history on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta. (The Super Series tournament is roughly equivalent to a Grand Slam in tennis).
Saina won her second career Super Series title by winning the Singapore Open title on June 20, 2010. She completed a hat-trick in the same year by winning the Indonesian Open on June 27, 2010. This win resulted in her rise to 3rd ranking and subsequently to No. 2. Later in the same year she also won Hong Kong Super Series on December 12, 2010.Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008,[5] with the former All England champion and national coach Pullela Gopichand being her mentor.
Saina was born in Hisar, Haryana and has spent her entire life in Hyderabad, India. Her foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal,[1] both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. She is the top ranked player (women) in Indian Badminton history.[6]Contents
[hide]
* 1 Childhood and early training
* 2 Career summary
* 4 2008 Summer Olympics
* 5 2010 Updates (Her Path Breaking Year)
* 6 2011 updates
* 7 Record Against Top ranked Chinese Opponents
* 8 Record Against other top rated Opponents
* 9 Miscellaneous
* 10 References
[edit] Childhood and early training
Saina was born in 1990 in a Jat family from Haryana.
She has got brown belt in Karate. She quit Karate at age of 8, when she was asked to have a motorcycle run over her stomach.[7]
In December 1998, Saina's father took her to meet Coach Nani Prasad at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad. Seeing potential in the girl, Prasad asked Singh to enroll Saina as a summer trainee.
Harvir Singh and Saina, who was 8 years old at the time, would wake at 4am every morning and head to the stadium which was 25 km away. After two hours of practice, Singh would drop Saina at school on his way to work. Sitting behind her father on his scooter, Saina would often fall asleep on these journeys which prompted her mother to accompany them for the next three months.
In order to keep up with the rising cost of her training, Saina’s father withdrew money from his savings and provident fund. The tight-rope walk continued until 2002, when sports brand Yonex offered to sponsor Saina’s kit. As her status and rankings improved, the sponsorships increased. In 2004, BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited).[8] signed the rising star onto their payroll, and she is also supported by Olympic Gold Quest.[9]
[edit] Career summary
Saina was the under-19 national champion. Saina created history by the winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice, becoming the first player to do so.
In 2006, Saina appeared on the global scene when she became the first Indian woman to win a 4-star tournament, the Philippines Open.[10] Entering the tournament as the 86th seed, Saina went on to stun several top seeded players including number seed Xu Huaiwen before defeating Julia Wong Pei Xian of Malaysia for the title. The same year also saw Saina as runner up at the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships, where she lost a hard fought match against top seed Chinese Wang Yihan. She did one better in the 2008 by becoming the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships by defeating ninth seeded Japanese Sayaka Sato 21-9, 21-18.
She became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals at the Olympic Games when she upset world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller. In the quarter-finals Saina lost a nail biting 3-gamer to world number 16 Maria Kristin Yulianti. In September 2008, she won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2008 beating Lydia Cheah Li Ya of Malaysia 21-8 21-19.[11] Maria Yulianti had earlier lost her quarter-final match to Pia Bernadet, Saina's semi-final opponent, thus denying Saina a rematch.
Saina has been named The Most Promising Player in 2008.[12] She reached the world super series semifinals in the month of December 2008.[13]
On 21 June 2009, she became the first Indian[14] to win a BWF Super Series title, the most prominent badminton series of the world by winning the Indonesia Open. She beat Chinese Wang Lin in the final 12-21, 21-18, 21-9. Saina on winning the tournament said "I had been longing to win a super series tournament since my quarter final appearance at the Olympics". Saina is on the par with the likes of Prakash Padukone and her mentor Pullela Gopichand who both won the all England championships which are of similar status to the super series. In August 2009 she reached the quarterfinals of world championship losing to the second seed Lin Wang. Saina Nehwal was rewarded with Arjuna award in August, 2009 and her coach Gopichand was also rewarded with Dronacharya award at the same time.
Saina has been signed up by Olympic Gold Quest to support her in fulfilling her dream of winning the Olympic gold medal.[15] Saina has been awarded with Padma Shri award in January 2010. Saina is brand ambassador of Deccan Chargers, an Indian Premier League team owned by Deccan chronicle. She has also became one of the 8 brand ambassadors of 2010 Commonwealth Games held on New Delhi India
Her strategy, at the beginning of 2010, was to ignore ranking points and focus her energies on premier tournaments. That seems to be working as she has won three titles (including two in India), and has reached the semis of two majors. With the World Championships, Commonwealth and Asian Games coming up, her preparation couldn’t have been better. Saina has been awarded with the highest national sporting award given to players, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on 29 August 2010.
On October 14, 2010 won gold medal against Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in CWG Delhi and made an unforgettable moment in India's badminton history.
On December 12, 2010 she won Hong Kong super series defeating Wang Shixian of China 15-21, 21-16, 21-17. Saina Nehwal won 2010 Commonwealth games gold in the women's singles badminton event held in the Siri Fort Auditorium, Delhi, on 14 October 2010.
She was recently voted as the third best Badminton Player of the Year 2010 by readers of an international badminton magazine, Badzine. Lin Dan expectedly won the top spot with 30% votes followed by Lee Chong Wei with 26%, Saina winning 9% in the third place.[16]
[edit] Career Record - Best Results
Event↓ Year↓ Result↓
Czechoslovakia Junior Open 2003 11 Gold
2004 Commonwealth Youth Games 2004 22 Silver
Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament 2005 11 Gold
2006 Commonwealth Games 2006 33 Bronze
Philippines Philippines Open (badminton) 2006 11 Gold
Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament 2006 11 Gold
India Indian National Badminton Championships 2007 11 Gold
India National Games of India 2007 11 Gold
Chinese Taipei 2008 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold 2008 11 Gold
India Indian National Badminton Championships 2008 11 Gold
2008 Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 11 Gold
2008 BWF World Junior Championships 2008 11 Gold
2008 BWF Super Series Masters finals 2008 Semifinalist
Indonesia 2009 Indonesia Super Series 2009 11 Gold
2009 BWF World Championships 2009 Quarterfinalist
India 2009 Indian Open Grand Prix 2009 11 Gold
England 2010 All England Super Series 2010 Semifinalist
2010 Badminton Asia Championships 2010 33 Bronze
India 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold 2010 11 Gold
Singapore 2010 Singapore Open Super Series 2010 11 Gold
Indonesia 2010 Indonesia Open Super Series 2010 11 Gold
France 2010 BWF World Championships 2010 Quarter-finalist
India 2010 Commonwealth Games 2010 11 Gold
Hong Kong 2010 Hong Kong Super Series 2010 11 Gold
Switzerland 2011 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2011 11 Gold
[edit] 2008 Summer Olympics
Stage Opponent Result Games Points
First Round Ella Diehl Won 2-0 21-9, 21-8
Second Round Larisa Griga Won 2-0 21-18, 21-10
Third Round Wang Chen Won 2-1 21-19, 11-21, 21-11
Quarter-finals Maria Kristin Yulianti Lost 1-2 28-26, 14-21, 15-21
[edit] 2010 Updates (Her Path Breaking Year)
* Saina successfully lead the Indian Women Team to the Quarter-finals stage of the 2010 Uber Cup finals.
* Saina became the first Indian Woman to reach the semi finals of 2010 All-England Super Series before losing to eventual champion Tine Rasmussen.
* Top seeded Saina reached the semifinals of Yonex Sunrise Badminton Asia Championships 2010 losing out to unseeded eventual champion Li Xuerui of China. Saina's Coach Gopichand advised her not exert too much pressure on herself due to the overwhelming home crowd support.
* Saina wins the 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold, beating Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia in the final and thus justifying her billing as top seed in the tournament. She won a prize money of $8,280 for winning this BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament.
* Saina Nehwal, again seeded no. 1 in the Singapore Open Super Series 2010, entered the finals defeating World champion Lu Lan of China
* Saina won the second Super Series title of her career by beating qualifier Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the final of the Singapore Open 21-18, 21-15. But the fact that she won the tournament in the absence of all the top 5 ranked players (who all happen to be Chinese), takes a little sheen away from her path breaking victory. Saina won a prize money of $15,000 for winning this BWF Super Series tournament.
* Saina has reached a career high of world no. 3 in the women's singles badminton world rankings on 24 June 2010.[17]
* Saina defended her Indonesia Open super series title in three tough games against Sayaka Sato of Japan, 21-19 / 13-21 / 21-11.This is her third super series title and her third successive title following wins at Indian open, Singapore Super series.[18] She again won the top prize money of $18,750 for winning this BWF Super Series tournament.
* On 15 July 2010, with 64791.26 points Saina Nehwal reached a career high world ranking of No. 2 only behind Wang Yihan of China.
* 2nd seed Saina, a tournament favourite, crashed out of the 2010 BWF World Championships in Paris after losing to 4th ranked Chinese Wang Shixian in straight sets 8-21, 14-21. She although equalled her tournament best performance, as she was also a losing quarter-finalist in the last edition held in Hyderabad. She subsequently dropped a spot to be No. 3 in the world rankings.
* Top seed Saina, won the gold medal in the Women's Singles badminton event in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. She beat Wong Mew Choo of Malaysia 19-21 23-21 21-13. After her win Saina said, “when I was a match-point down, it was like a shock. It was a big match and winning it means a lot to me. Even many years from now, those present here will always remember how Saina won the gold. It is a proud feeling.”[19]
* In the BWF Super Series ranking for the year 2010 (which only considers the performances of players in the elite world super series tournaments), as on 27 September 2010, Saina has dropped to No. 7 from a high of No. 1 after giving a miss to 2010 China Masters Super Series and 2010 Japan Super Series due to her preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[20] As on Dec 5 2010, for the first time in the year Saina Nehwal dropped out of the top 10 best performers in the 2010 BWF Super Series rankings.
* Saina Nehwal confirmed her participation for the 2010 Hong Kong Super series to held from 7 Dec to 12 Dec, 2010 and is also the penultimate super series tournament of the year. This would be Saina's first super series tournament after a gap of more than 5 months since her win in the 2010 Indonesia Super Series in June 2010.
* On 12 December 2010, Saina Nehwal defeated Wang Shixian 15-21, 21-16, 21-17 in the final of the 2010 Hong Kong Super Series to win her fourth career Super Series title.
[edit] 2011 updates
* After recovering from a ligament injury, India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal will return to the international scene in her season-opening Korean Open Super Series in Seoul starting on 25th January 2011.
* 4th seed Saina Nehwal crashed out of the 2011 Korea Open Super Series Premier on 27 January, 2011 in the 2nd round. She was defeated by the Japanese Sayaka Sato in a tight 3 set match with score 17-21,21-19 and 21-11.
* 5th seed Saina, was disappointed when she was defeated by Eriko Hirose of Japan at 2011 All England Super Series Premier on 11 March, 2011. She was defeated in straight sets with a score of 21-11 and 22-20. It was her second early exit of the year after being defeated in Korean Premium Super Series earlier in January.
* One week later, on 17 March, 2011, she met Eriko Hirose again (in the second round of the Wilson Badminton Swiss Open), but managed to win this time in three games 21-15, 17-21 and 21-11 - on her birthday.
* 2nd seed Saina Nehwal beat Ji Hyun Sung of South Korea 21-13, 21-14 to win the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton title on 20 March, 2011.
[edit] Record Against Top ranked Chinese Opponents
* People's Republic of China Wang Yihan 0-1
* People's Republic of China Wang Xin 0-2
* People's Republic of China Jiang Yanjiao 0-3
* People's Republic of China Wang Lin 1-3
* People's Republic of China Wang Shixian 1-1
* People's Republic of China Lu Lan 2-1
[edit] Record Against other top rated Opponents
* Denmark Tine Rasmussen 0-2
* France Pi Hongyan 0-5
* Hong Kong Zhou Mi 1-3
* Germany Juliane Schenk 5-2
* Japan Eriko Hirose 3-3
* Netherlands Yao Jie 1-2
* South Korea Bae Seung Hee 2-0
* Hong Kong Yip Pui Yin 2-1
* Russia Ella Diehl 6-0
* Bulgaria Petya Nedelcheva 4-2
* Malaysia Wong Mew Choo 3-2
* Thailand Salakjit Ponsana 3-0
* Indonesia Adrianti Firdasari 2-2
* Japan Ai Goto 3-0
* South Korea Bae Youn-joo 3-0
* South Korea Ji Hyun Sung 2-0
(as on 20 March 2011)
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