On March 29, 2015, Saina Nehwal India’s badminton ace won the Indian Open Super Series. This ensured her the world No 1 rank in Women Singles which was conferred on her by the Badminton World Federation on April 2. Continuing with her habit of making and breaking records, she thus makes one more by becoming the first Indian woman to be on the top of the charts of Women Singles World Rankings. By her tremendous achievement Saina has made every Indian proud. Her achievement is all the more credible because she has achieved it in a game which for long has been dominated by China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Incidentally, Saina Nehwal has several firsts to her name. She is the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics. She achieved this feat by winning the Bronze medal at the London Olympics in 2012. She is the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina also became the first Indian to win a Super Series by winning the Indonesia Open in 2009. In 2015, Saina reached the finals of the All England Open Badminton Championship thereby becoming the first woman to do so. It may be recalled that Prakash Padukone was crowned the All England Open Badminton Men’s Champion several years ago. He was followed by Pullela Gopichand who also won the All England Open Badminton Champion. Gopichand incidentally is also Saina’s mentor and was her coach in the past. She is also the reigning Indian national champion and plays for Hyderabad Hotshots in the Indian Badminton League. It may be recalled that Saina created history by winning the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice and in the process becoming the first player to do so. In 2006 she was crowned the under-19 national champion. Incidentally, Saina was named “The Most Promising Player” in 2008. She reached the world super series semifinals in 2008. In her illustrious career Saina has won several titles all across the globe. Hence it was but natural for her to be crowned as the number 1 player in the world. Saina is an inspiration and a role model for other women badminton players in the country and indeed for women in general to excel in their chosen sports discipline. Obviously we shall hear much more of the achievements of the champion of world badminton in the years to come.
