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Saina Nehwal faltering in the final hurdle of the 2015 All England Badminton Championship was a big disappointment for Indian badminton. But, Nehwal’s record-breaking streak has made her the first ever Indian women’s badminton player to reach the final of the tournament.That being said, Nehwal wasn’t the first Indian to make it all the way, only to falter in the final hurdle. Indian athletes doing well and reaching finals on a consistent basis goes all the way back to the 1950’s.So, here are five Indians, who reached finals of big events.
#1 Saina Nehwal (Badminton)
Apart from the All England Badminton Championship, Nehwal also finished second at the Indonesian Open final, where she lost to China’s Wang Yihan of China in 2011. The win would have made Nehwal the first women in the tournament’s history to secure the title, three straight times.
Even in the world rankings, Nehwal reached a career high of no. 2 on 29th January 2015. She also finished second in the Malaysian Open losing to Wang Shixian in the final.
#2 Limba Ram (Archery)
India’s first international level archer also held the world record in the 30m event, along with Japan’s Takayoshi Matsushita was India’s best bet for a medal at the 1992 Olympics. In fact, he came might y close in Barcelona to pull it off.
After scoring 336 points out 360 in the final, Ram would go on to miss the bronze medal by a solitary point. He won two consecutive tournaments heading into the 1992 Olympics.
#3 India Davis Cup team (Tennis)
The Indian national tennis team has reached the finals of the Davis Cup thrice, most recently in 1987. Led by Vijay Amritraj, the team would make it into the finals with relative ease. However, they were mauled by a Swedish team led by then world number 1 Mats Wilander.
They would win just one set, losing 5-0 in the finals.
The other two times India finished runners-up was in 1966 and 1974. In 1974, the final was scratched as India refused to travel to South Africa because of their apartheid policies.
#4 P T Usha (Athletics)
One of the closest finishes in Olympic history was when Indian athlete P T Usha missed out on the bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Usha became the first ever Indian woman to reach the finals of an Olympic event, when she won her 400m hurdles semi-finals with relative ease. However, Romanian Cristeana Cojocaru would pip her to the line with a timing of 55.41 seconds.
Usha would would go onto register a time of 55.42 seconds, 0.1 seconds behind the bronze medal winner.
#5 Milkha Singh (Athletics)
The flying Sikh’s form heading into the 1960 Rome Olympics was being touted as India’s hope for a gold medal, at least. At the 1958 Commonwealth Games, he had won the gold medal.
Singh finished seconds behind eventual silver medallists Carl Kauffman. However, Singh would go onto finish fourth, 1/10th of a second behind, South Africa’s Malcolm Spence.
This would go down as one of the unluckiest moments in India’s Olympic history.
