Name of the sportsperson: Saina Nehwal
Discipline: Badminton
Date of Birth: 17-03-1990
State: Haryana
Achievements and Awards
• Saina Nehwal was rewarded with the Arjuna award in August, 2009.
• Saina has been awarded with Padma Shri award in January 2010.
• She has become one of the 8 brand ambassadors of 2010 Commonwealth Games.
• Saina has been awarded with the highest national sporting award given to players, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on 29 August 2010.
• Saina Nehwal won the gold medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Facts about Saina Nehval
• Saina successfully lead the Indian Women Team to the Quarter-finals stage of the 2010 Uber Cub finals.
• Saina became the first Indian Woman to reach the semi finals of2010 All-England Super Series before losing to eventual champion Tina Rasmussen.
• Saina reached a career high of world no. 3 in the women's singles badminton world rankings on 24 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.
Profile
Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics and the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championship. Saina Nehwal marked her name in the history books on June 21, 2009, becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta.
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 won the Hong Kong Super Series on Dec. 12, 2010.
After experiencing a poor 2011 season, Saina become the first Indian singles player to reach the summit stage of year-ending Super Series Finals defeating two-time All England champion and World No. 5 Tine Baun in the semi-finals.
