When it comes to badminton, Saina Nehwal is a popular Indian name. she is an ace badminton player who attained the World No.1 ranking in 2015. Born in 1990 to Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal, Saina Nehwal started playing badminton to socialize with other kids because she was not familiar with the local language of Hyderabad.
She popularized this sport in India and is a big inspiration for many young girls who wish to take up badminton as their career option. She has represented India on the biggest stages. Despite some downfalls, she is still one of the best female badminton players worldwide. If you wish to know the best Saina Nehwal award, you should first be aware of the top five of her achievements.
- Commonwealth Gold in 2010
She is the first woman to win a gold medal in the Common Wealth Games. Millions of fans were putting their faith on her shoulders to deliver a gold and she lived up to each one of their expectations. She won in the final against Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong. The entire stadium cheered for her when she triumphed over her opponent and secured the 38th gold medal for the country.
- China Open Gold in 2014
Saina Nehwal at the China Open Superseries secured the gold medal by defeating Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the final. She brought a made turn in the game after clinching the Australian Superseries and the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold.
- National Awards
Saina Nehwal popularized badminton in the country. She has been a great inspiration for Indian female athletes. The government of India bestowed her with several civilian awards in order to acknowledge her contributions. The best Saina Nehwal award which she won in 2016 is the Padma Bhushan award. It is the third-highest civilian award in India. She was also awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Awards in 2009. In 2010, the shuttler got Padma Shri.
- BWF World Championships Silver in 2015
Her name has been written in the pages of history when she became the first Indian female badminton player to win a silver. She reached the finals at the BWF World Champions in 2015. She also reached the final in Jakarta where she faced Carolina Marin and won over her. She set a benchmark for other players with this win.
- Olympic Bronze in 2012
She created more history by winning the London Olympics in 2012. She is also the first female badminton player to win a medal at the Olympics. This remains one of the biggest wins of her career.
She also created history when she won the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice. She is the first badminton female player to achieve this feat. She is also the first Indian woman to win the Philippines Open which is a 4-star tournament.
To conclude
Who knew that this Haryana girl is going to create history by winning some of the best awards in sports. She started playing badminton at the age of eight when her family moved from Haryana to Hyderabad. Her mother encouraged her to play the game because she was herself a state-level badminton player herself. She wanted to further her mother’s dream of becoming a national-level badminton player. She lived up to her expectations by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the last eight Olympic quarter-finals. Every Saina Nehwal’s award has been dedicated to her mother. Just like any other girl, she too loves ice cream so whenever she wins any tournament, she treats herself with an ice-cream. In 2018, she married the love of her life, a fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap.
