Saina Nehwal

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Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton's wonder girl, became the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event when she clinched the Philippines Open in Pasig City, Manila, in May of 2006. She was decorated with country's prestigious civilian award Padma Shri on 26 January 2010.

Indian badminton's latest find Saina Nehwal,the 16-year-old junior national champion, defeated eight-time reigning National champion Aparna Popat in straight games in the final of the Asian Satellite Badminton Championship in New Delhi to the surprise of everyone. The teen wonder has badminton in her blood. Her parents Dr. Harvir Singh, a Principal Scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Usha Rani were former State champions in Haryana.

Saina Nehwal

Saina is a very humble and god fearing girl.Saina's talent was noticed when she was just nine and former all England champion P. Gopichand took her under his wing when she was 13. She is a 12th standard student.

She was born at Hisar and studied upto 3rd standard at Campus School CCS HAU Hisar.Her uncle Dr.Jaivir Singh is Sr.Scientist in the Department of Plant Breeding at CCS HAU Hisar. Recently she was runner up in the world Junior Badminton Championship held at Incheon,Korea.On 17th November,2006, she won Asian Satellite Badminton Championship held at Mumbai.

Her dream is to win a medal in the Olympic games.Baminton star, Saina is now world number 6.

1 Saina Nehwal wins Indonesian Open
2 Awards
3 Foot notes
4 References

Saina Nehwal wins Indonesian Open

Ace woman shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday, 21 June 2009, scripted history by becoming the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after she clinched the Indonesian Open title with a stunning victory over higher ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.

Saina clinched her maiden Super Series title beating Wang 12-21, 21-18, 21-9 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller that lasted 49 minutes.

Her triumph is the best ever performance by any Indian woman and at par with All England Championship titles won by Prakash Padukone and her current coach Pullela Gopichand.

In the thrilling final, world number eight Saina came from behind to outsmart world number three Wang and avenge her last week's Singapore Open Super Series loss to the same rival.

Saina took time to get into the groove as she struggled to gauge the gameplan of Wang in the first game. Wang opened a 4-9 lead and rode on her smashes and better net play o pocket the first game as Saina was left to do the catch up act.

But the Indian ace rallied her way back in the second game. Saina levelled the score at 5-5 and then moved together with her Chinese rival till 17-17 before surging ahead to pocket the second game 21-18.

In the decider, Saina was in her attacking best besides displaying better nerves in crucial moments.

After moving neck and neck till 7-7, Saina went berserk by engaging her rival in soft dribble and net play to widen the gap at 15-9 before reeling off six straight points to seal her place in history.

Hailing Saina's victory as an important milestone in Indian badminton, Badminton Association of India announced a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh as a recognition of her feat.

"It is a big moment in Indian badminton. We are proud of her achievement. We are announcing a cash reward of Rs two lakhs as an acknowledgment of Saina's hard work and achievement," BAI president V K Verma said.

"It is a moment to cherish for Indian sports. Saina has put up a lot of hard work but I will also want to thank the Sports Ministry for their support and financial help," he added.

Awards

20 year old Saina has received Arjun Award for Badminton for 2009 from President Smt. Pratibha Patil at Rastrapati Bhawan,New Delhi on Aug.29,2009.

वर्ष 2008-09 के लिए पीएसपीबी वार्षिक पुरस्कार समारोह में 22 अक्टूबर को सायना नेहवाल सर्वश्रेष्ठ खिलाड़ी के तौर पर चुनी गई। नई दिल्ली में आयोजित इस कार्यक्रम में सायना के साथ-साथ चर्चित जाट क्रिकेटर वीरेन्द्र सेहवाग भी उपस्थित थे। वीरेन्द्र सेहवाग को 2007-08 के लिए इस पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया गया।^[1]