Saina Nehwal is considered to be the most successful female sportsperson from India. She is the first Indian badminton player to have won an Olympic medal, the first Indian to have reached the final of the BWF World Championships, along with being the only Indian to have won the BWF World Junior Championships In 2006, Nehwal became the first Indian female and the youngest Asian to win a 4-star tournament. She also has the distinction of being the first Indian to win a Super Series title
EARLY LIFE :
Saina Nehwal was born on 17 March 1990 in Hisar, Haryana. Her Father is Harvir Singh Nehwal. Her Mother’s name is Usha Rani Nehwal, a HomeMaker.
She has only one sibling, an elder sister, Chandranshu Nehwal. Saina Nehwal completed first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar Haryana.
She took up sports at the age of 8, when they moved to hyderabad . She was full filling her mother’s dreams of becoming a national level player.
CAREER :
In 2005, at the age of 15, Saina Nehwal has won an Asian Satellite tournament in New Delhi, beating Aparna Popat in the final in straight games.
In 2006, Saina Nehwal became the under-19 national champion and claimed her second Indian, Asian Satellite tournament.
In May, at age 16, she became the first Indian woman and the youngest player from Asia to win a 4-star tournament – the Philippines Open.
She was a finalist at the Indian International challenge in 2007 where she lost to Kanako Yonekura in 2 games.
She won her first BWF Super 500 title, the Indonesia Masters, against Carolina MarÃn, after the latter retired from the court injured. .This was her 4th National title. Her incredible consistent record at the World Championships came to an end after she lost to Mia Blichfeldt in the pre-quarterfinal in 3 hard-fought games 21–15, 25–27, 12–21.
At one point in her career, Saina Nehwal was the highest-paid badminton player in the world, with endorsement deals worth more than a million dollars annually.
PERSONAL LIFE :
She married a fellow badminton player, Parupalli Kashyap in a private ceremony on 14 December 2018.
Nehwal and her family speak the Haryanvi language at home. She is a fan of Shah Rukh Khan and Mahesh Babu.She is in the process of opening a badminton academy in her native state of Haryana.
She has already been accredited by the Padma Bhushan. Apart from this, she has also bagged the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.
