Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal (born March 17, 1990, Hisar, Haryana state, India) is the first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal. During the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Nehwal captured the women’s singles bronze medal. She has won more than 20 titles internationally and was a recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan from the Indian government in 2016.
Nehwal, whose parents were both former professional badminton players, started playing the game in 1998, after moving from her hometown of Hisar to Hyderabad. There her father took her to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium to learn the sport. Nani Prasad Rao, a coach at the stadium, noticed Nehwal’s talent and encouraged her family to invest in her future in badminton. Her parents were supportive and made financial sacrifices to ensure that Nehwal would be successful.
In 2004 Nehwal became a nationally recognized junior champion in India’s National Badminton Championship; she won the title again in 2005. That same year Nehwal became an international champion, winning the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament. She found immense success as an international badminton competitor and won the Philippines Open in 2006. In 2008 she became the national champion of India and the world junior champion. Nehwal also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she reached the women’s singles quarterfinals. The next year, Nehwal won the Indonesia Open, making her the first Indian badminton player to earn a Badminton World Federation (BWF) series title.
In 2010 Nehwal won a gold medal in the women’s singles event at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. After her earlier stint at the Olympics, Nehwal was determined to make up for her defeat at the 2012 London Olympics. However, leading up to the Games, she developed a fever. Despite not being in peak condition at the tournament, she won the bronze-medal match against Chinese player Wang Xin, who withdrew during the match because of a twisted knee. Nehwal, who had not imagined that her victory would be a result of an opponent’s injury, went across the court to comfort her.
Nehwal was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honors, in 2010. Her autobiography, Playing to Win, appeared in 2012. In 2018 Nehwal married her longtime partner and fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap.