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Saina Nehwal has now achieved the feat of becoming World Number One. This is not something, which has not happened over night. It requires hard-work, determination and passion over a course of time.Her achievements have been one of the main reasons for the Indian Sports Ministry to allocate Rs. 30 Crore for a span of three years through the donation of the Indian Government and India Infrastructure and Finace Department (IIFCL).Known to be the one to who have achieved many ‘First’ feats’, the 25-year old shuttler has so far won 16 major titles and 11 medals in muti-sport events. In this slideshow, let us see the gradual rise of Saina from being the Junior Champion to now the ‘World Number One’ in the span of nine years.
#1 Initial Years (2006 2007)
It all started when young Saina participated in the U-19 national championships in 2006. The shuttler’s career started only soaring upwards from there. She also won the mixed team silver at the Common Wealth Games 2006 in Melbourne.
Saina created history by becoming the first player to win the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice. Saina’s foray into the global stage started when she finished as the runner up at the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships.
She also kept performing consistently at the world stage then on and became the second Indian woman to win he the Philippines Open.
#2 Most Promising Player (2008)
In 2008, Saina became the first Indian to reach quarter finals in the Beijing Olympics. She had a terrific run in the whole event in which the 25-year old defeated the then world number five Chen of Hong Kong before losing to Maria Kristin Yulianti in a hard fought match in the quarters.
She continued her good streak in other major tournaments as well as won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2008. Saina also reached the semifinals of the world super series in December 2008. Saina also became the first Indian to win the World Junior Championship title in 2008.
As a reward for her exploits in that year, Saina was named as "The Most Promising Player" of 2008.
#3 Indonesia Open Title Champion (2009)
Saina had a very good 2009 as she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title. Her most accomplished victory by then was attaining the Indonesian Open title as she rallied to defeat China’s Wang Lin 12–21, 21–18, 21–9.
Saina, though, had a disappointing time at the world championship as she bowed out of the tournament losing to the second seed Lin (whom she defeated in the Indonesian Open earlier that year) in the quarter finals.
#4 Commonwealth Games Gold (2010)
Her biggest achievement in 2010 easily was the gold medal in the Women's Singles badminton event at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010. Most importantly, in the same year, Saina also achieved a career-high of No.2 ranking in July.
But on September 2010, Saina dropped to no. 7, after opting out of China Masters Super Series and 2010 Japan Super Series owing to her preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Earlier that yea,r the Haryana-born shuttler led Indian women’s team to Uber cup quarter finals. Post that tournament, she lost in semi-finals of the All England Super Series and Yonex Sunrise Badminton Championships losing to Tine Rasmussen and Li Xuerui respectively.
In the mean time, won several titles most importantly the Indian Open Grand Prix Gold, BWF Grand Prix and Singapore Open Grand Prix. Her victory in the year’s Hong Kong super series meant that she won four super series career titles by then.
#5 Poor 2011
Saina, compared to her standards, had a dull 2011. The slump started when 4th seed Saina, crashed out of the 2011 Korea Open Super Series in the second round. Seeded fifth in the all England series, Saina again had a disappointing outing crashing out early. Much to the disappointment of the home crowd, she had yet another early crash out in the Indian Open Super Series in Delhi.
Saina’s only achievement during the phase was the Swiss Open Super Grand Prix Gold badminton title. She also had disappointing outings in Malaysian Grand Prix Gold Tournament, BWF Double Star Sudirman Cup and the Thailad Open GP Gold.
Saina even failed to successfully defend her Singapore Open Series and failed to win her third Indonesian Open Super Series, where she lost in the final. She further lost in quarter finals of China Masters Super Series and in semi-finals of Japan Super Series. She then was humbled in the very first round of China Open Super Series Premier.
Overcoming her disappointments, Saina had a better finish to the year as she became the first Indian player to reach the singles final of BWF Super Series Master Finals.
#6 Resurgence and the Olympic Bronze (2012 -2013)
A late surge in 2011 meant that Saina started off the next year very well as she successfully defended her Swiss Open Title, by defeating China’s Wang Shixian who was then the world number two. Her comeback continued on a good way as she won also won the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title in July.
Saina, getting back to her best, won the Indonesia Open Super Series by defeating World No. 3, which marked her 3rd Indonesia Open title.
She had to wait till August to achieve her biggest accomplishment till date, the Olympic bronze medal. Though the 25-year old had her share of luck as her opponent Xin Wang retired hurt, Saina had played exceedingly well to reach to the bronze medal play-off.
#7 China Open and Australian Open Victories (2014)
The 2014 China Open tournament went very well for India as Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won the women’s and men’s titles respectively to make it a historical event for the country.
It was a great victory for Saina as it was her sixth shot at the title having failed five times previously. The ace shuttler beat Japan's Akane Yamaguchi quite convincingly winning in straight games 21-12, 22-20.
Saina’s yet another shot at the All England Super Series Premier came to an end as she lost to Wang Xixian in the quarters, but also won the Australian Open that year.
Despite all those achievements, Saina’s major regret would have been the missing out yet another chance to represent Indian in the Commonwealth Games. She had to opt out of the tournament in Incheon, due to leg blisters, which she sustained during the Australian Open Super Series triumph.
#8 Saina Nehwal : The World Number 1 (2015)
This year’s All England Tour finals was heart breaking for badminton fans across India as Saina failed to win the tournament for the first time in 14 years, after Pullela Gopichand won the title in 2000. She lost against Spain’s Carolina Martin in the finals.
It was disappointing because Saina started as the favourite in the finals as she had already won three previous meetings against Martin. But the Spaniard rallied to win the title after being a game down.
History was rewritten Saina as she won the Indian Grand Prix in March. The victory assured Saina of becoming the World Number One, thus making the nation proud.
