Saina Nehwal has put India on the world map of badminton. A pathbreaker, a trailblazer, the former World No. 1 is now a guiding light for many budding shuttlers in the country who have been inspired to follow in her footsteps.
Here we trace the journey of the superstar through some rare photos as she grew up to become the very best in her field.
Born on March 17, 1990, Saina is the younger daughter of Harvir Singh and Usha Rani, both of whom are former state champions in badminton. The family moved from Saina’s birthplace, Hisar to Hyderabad during her childhood. Hence, the young girl had to change schools.
In Hisar, Saina studied at Campus School CCS HAU from Lower KG to the third standard. After moving to Hyderabad, she attended the Bhartiya Vidhya Bhawan’s Vidhyashram School and the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) School Rajendranagar. She completed her Xll from St. Ann's College Mehdipatnam Hyderabad.
She is a brown belt in karate but quit it to focus on badminton at the age of eight. Saina's father played a pivotal in her getting into badminton. Her father, who was Directorate of Oilseeds Research in Hyderabad, encouraged his younger daughter to take up the sport. Dr. Harvir Singh left no stone unturned and withdrew all his savings from their provident funds to provide for Saina's badminton coaching.
In the initial days, Saina would travel to the Lal Bahadur Stadium with her father on his scooter at 4 a.m. in the morning. Her mother started accompanying them later. And following her rigorous training, she would be dropped to her school after two hours of rigorous practice.
After training under SM Arif, Saina joined the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. And the budding talent soon started prospering at the junior level. It was a matter of time before titles followed. In 2003, she captured the Junior Czech Open title. The following year, she was crowned the junior national champion.
In 2005, the fast-rising Nehwal started making noise at the senior level too when she finished runner-up at the Senior Nationals besides retaining her junior National Championships title as well.
2006 was the year when Saina made rapid strides towards the top tier of badminton. After becoming the under-19 national champion, Saina won the prestigious Asian Satellite Badminton tournament (India Chapter) twice and was the first player ever to do so. That same year, a 16-year-old achieved the distinction of becoming the first Indian woman and the youngest Asian player to win a 4-star tournament when she captured the Philippines Open.
She would later go on to won the final of the World Junior Championships that same year and later win it in 2008.
There was no looking back since then. Under the tutelage of Gopichand, she flourished and became one of the most established names on the badminton circuit. The icing on the cake for this partnership has so far been the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
When she is not sweating it out on the badminton court, she likes to relax by listening to music and reading books. She is also known to be a foodie having travelled all over the globe.
Other than that, the shuttle queen is an avid Bollywood fan and never holds back from proclaiming her admiration for superstar Shah Rukh Khan. She has even been fortunate enough to have met her favourite actor.
Just like any other young girl of her age, she has also been seen enjoying shaking a leg many times.
