The Uncrowned Queen of World Badminton - Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990) is an Indian Khel Ratna winning badminton player currently ranked No: 2 in the world by Badminton World Federation, 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. This remains her highest career ranking. When it comes to 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 July 2010, Saina is ranked No. 1 with 29860 points leading her nearest competitor Bae Youn-joo of Korea by nearly 1200 pts.

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, 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, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. She is the top ranked player (both Men & Women) in Indian Badminton history.

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Wiki page of Saina ::

[[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saina_Nehwal ]]

2010 Updates (Her Path Breaking Year)


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¤¤ 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 Indian Open Grand Prix Gold 2010, 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 (updated on 06/20/2010)

¤¤ 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.

¤¤ 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. 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 quater-finalist in the last edition held in Hyderabad.

No Saina fans here :huh: :shock:

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World Badminton Championships: Game Over for Saina Nehwal, India

India’s Saina Nehwal bowed out yesterday in the women’s singles quarter-finals in World Badminton Championships at Paris.

Indian hopes of medal at World Badminton Championship ended after defeat of ace shuttler Saina Nehwal and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju at the high-profile tournament on Friday.

Wang Shixian, seeded six, thrashed the Indian 21-8 21-14 victor in a contest that lasted just 34 minutes to reach the semifinals of the women’s singles. In the first game, Wang was leading 5-1 and Saina fight back to level the scores at 6-6. But Saina couldn’t sustain it and let Wang surge ahead to lead 16-8, before closing it with a scream at 21-8.

Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also made an exit from women’s doubles, losing to sixth seeds Jung Eun Ha and Ming Jung Kim. In the men’s doubles, 15th seeds Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas also failed to continue their good run.

It was most disappointing outcome for India after the defeat of Saina in Quarter Finals because it put an end to a dream that had endured over three tournaments — Indian Open, Singapore Super Series and Indonesia Super Series.

Nation’s expectations to Saina were high, especially after golfer Arjun Atwal became the first Indian to win on the PGA Tour last Sunday.

After the match Saina told reporters, “My weakness was that I was not moving at all. I was trying to be more quick around the net but somehow my movement was very, very slow and I was feeling too tired today. Wang was quicker in her movements and she was more attacking at the net.”

“It happens. You win some, you lose some. I thought maybe I could progress a bit further so it was a sad day today. It was not my day but I tried my best”, she added.

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Update : Saina Nehwal receives Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2010 :happydance: :happydance:

she is already the queen of "world" badminton - requesting to change the thread title :D

thought of opening a thrd for her...puyal mundhikitaru..well deserved thrd :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by ilayapuyalvinodh_kumar

No Saina fans here :huh: :shock:

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I am not a fan or anything. But would definitely support and follow all sportspersons outside cricket.

Saina :thumbsup: Keep a level head and bring more and more laurels to India and yourself.

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I tried my best: Saina Nehwal
DNAIndia

Saina Nehwal's wait for a medal at the Worlds continues. On her return from Guangzhou, she tells G Krishnan that her performance was excellent

How would you sum up your performances in the World Championships?

Excellent. I did my best to reach that level (quarterfinals) but failed to proceed further. I will try again. This was my fifth WC and in four editions, reached the quarterfinals.

Does it bother you that you could not go beyond quarterfinals?

It happens. I have no regret. I can only try to give m best. You said during the India Open this year that you need to work on mental toughness.

Have you been able to do it?

I always try to work in the positive direction. In any competition, one has to be mentally fit. It was said that this was your best chance to win a medal.

Did it put you under pressure?

No. I was not under any pressure. I am only extremel happy to produce the results to the best of my abilities. I will continue to give my best.

You have had a better record against the lower- ranked Yeon Ju Bae. What happened in the quarters?

She was better on that day.

What did you make of Sindhu's performance?

Excellent. I wish her all the very best in her future career so that she can go high and keep India's fag flying high.

You must have seen Ratchanok Intanon develop as a player. What is your assessment of her?

She is shaping well in badminton. She is the youngest t win gold at the World Championships. I wish her all the best.

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4th consecutive Quaterfinals & Saina crashes out. Topramen Noodles not working for her !!