PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal feature as India's medalists in badminton at Summer Olympics

Saina Nehwal (Bronze, London - 2012)

Saina Nehwal in action during the 2012 London Olympics

Saina Nehwal had already shown the world that she was built for the kill when the quarter-final appearance during the 2018 Beijing Olympics just made her an overnight sensation.

Her success once again brought the spotlight to Badminton, several years after Pullela Gopichand, her mentor, was crowned the champion at the All England Open, in 2001.

Despite several superseries titles adding glamor to her cabinet, including the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medal, she was yearning for an elusive Olympic medal as the 2012 London Games approached.

She stormed through the first couple of fixtures against Sabrina Jaquet and Lianne Tan with scores of 21-9, 21-4, and 21-4, 21-14 to further her claims and qualify for the round-of-16. The Hisar-based shuttler continued her winning streak and marched to the semi-finals without dropping a single game in the entire tournament.

However, in the last-four clash, she went down to China’s Wang Xin in straight games to crash out of the tournament. Yet, the Bronze medal match was left and there was a medal to be won. Up against Wang Xin, the Indian was down by a game.

But an injury suffered by the opponent allowed Saina to script her name in the history books, by becoming the first ever Indian shuttler to win a medal at the Olympics. Even though it was not the way she wanted, the triumph was well deserved.