Rewind

In the list of top singles badminton players around the world, Saina Nehwal ranks 3rd currently and the highest ranking she has reached till date was 2nd in 2010. Saina is the first Indian woman to make it to the quarter finals of the badminton singles at the Olympic Games in 2008, Beijing. She is one of the greatest badminton players India has ever produced. She has brought India into limelight in the world of badminton. Before Saina happened, only two players Prakash Padukone and Gopichand draw some attention to the Indian badminton.

Saina was born to Usha Rani and Dr. Harvir Singh on 17th March 1990 at Hissar in Haryana. In her childhood, her family had moved to Hyderabad where she did her schooling. She got recognition with her first victory which came with a gold medal at the Czechoslovakia Junior Open in 2003. Being born into a family with an outstanding badminton history – both her parents are former state badminton champions, Saina started taking interest in the game during early years. She began practicing at the age of eight at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad under the supervision of ace badminton coach S.M. Arif. Later on, she joined the Pullela Gopichand`s Academy of Badminton, Hyderabad where she was further trained. After her first victory at the international level, she practised even harder and went on to win Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament for two consecutive years in 2005 and 2006. While she was making history at the global arena, her performance at the national level was also laudable. She has numerous prestigious victories under her belt including National Junior Championship in two consecutive years – 2004 and 2005. There was no looking back fore the young girl after that. 2005 was a good year for Saina as she also won the All India Jr. Ranking Tournaments of the year 2005 held at Chennai, Cochin, Bangalore and Pune. The same year, won the title for All India Senior Ranking Tournament, Mumbai as well as the National