Badminton Pride of India: Saina Nehwal Story

Almost every one of us has played badminton, at least once in our lifetime. Every time we think of this game, it's inevitable to remember the legendary Badminton champion, Saina Nehwal. The lady has bagged numerous awards and wide recognition for India in the Olympics and other Badminton championships. Given her achievements at such a young age, it becomes vital to look into her life and career.

So this article will look into her life story and the lessons that we can learn from her achievements.

Saina Nehwal: Early life

Saina Nehwal was born in Hisar Haryana in 1990. Her father, Harvir Singh Nehwal, was a PhD in Agriculture science and her mother, Usha Rani, was a state-level badminton player.

Saina developed an interest in badminton at the age of 8 years when her family relocated to Hyderabad. Her mother always had a dream to make Saina a national level badminton player. Her parents were also badminton champions and ready to invest in her Badminton career and training.

Saina Nehwal Story: Coaching & Coaches

• Nani Prasad Rao Saina's father took him to Hyderabad's Lal Bahadur Stadium, where a prominent coach, Nani Prasad Rao, saw Saina's potential. Mr. Rao gave excellent guidance to Saina & influenced his father to enroll Saina in formal coaching. He played a key role in her early training.
• SM Arif After his transfer, Saina received the guidance of Dronacharya Awardee SM Arif. Arif motivated Saina to play in the tougher competition. In an interview, he acknowledged the efforts put by Saina in her training.
• Pullela Gopichand When SM Arif retired, Pullela Gopichand, a prominent Badminton player, gave rigorous training to Saina and helped her in winning the 2012 Bronze Olympic Medal in London.
• Vimal Kumar Saina was also trained under coach Vimal Kumar. His guidance, combined with Saina's hard work, bagged her numerous achievements.

Saina's Career

Saina won her first victory in badminton in 2002 in the Under 13 category Sub-Junior Badminton national championship.

In 2005, she was adjudged the Senior National Championship winner.

Then there was no stopping to her badminton career. She played in various badminton tournaments. She won the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament in 2005, which was her first international award.

Losses in Game

Although Saina's badminton career began with significant achievements, she also faced many defeats in her life.

In 2006, she ended up as the runner up in World Championship Debut. She had also lost the 2007 Debut all England Badminton championship. In the same year, she lost the 2nd world Junior Badminton championship.

Comeback

But she did not let the failure overpower her. She made a successful comeback with a Gold medal in the Commonwealth youth championship. Then she represented India in several international Badminton Championships like the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Saina also won the 2009 Indonesian Open and reached the quarterfinals of the World Badminton championship. Under her captainship in the 2014 Uber Cup, the Indian Badminton team won a bronze medal.

Recent Victory: Her most recent victory was in the 2018 Commonwealth games, where she bagged two gold medals. The first one was in the singles category, while the other one was in Mixed doubles.

<div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div>

A post shared by SAINA NEHWAL (@nehwalsaina)

Achievements

• Saina Nehwal won the 2012 Bronze Olympic Medal in Badminton and became the first-ever Indian badminton player to win an Olympics medal.
• Saina Nehwal has won 24 international titles, including first rank in Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour and eleven Superseries title.
• She bagged World no. 1 ranking in 2015.
• She has won three gold medals in the commonwealth games. She was also the first Indian to win two singles gold medals in the Commonwealth games.
• She has also received Padma Bhushan in 2016, besides Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna award.

Facts about Saina Nehwal

• Saina is also known for philanthropic work. She bagged the 18th rank in the list of 'most charitable athletes.'
• Besides an excellent badminton player, Saina Nehwal is also a brown belt in Karate.
• Saina Nehwal had married Parupalli Kashyap, who is also a badminton player, in 2018.

Future Goals

• Saina, who originally belongs to Haryana, wishes to set up a Badminton Academy in Haryana.
• Saina is also practicing hard for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. She has to first feature in the top 16 players to qualify for the Olympics.

Final Lessons

The victories and defeats of Saina Nehwal as a Badminton player give many lessons.

• Right Guidance The first thing that we see in her life is the importance of proper guidance. Throughout her life, she got guidance first from her parents and then from different coaches. This shows that behind any successful person there are several people: like her parents, coach etc.
• Be Positive The second learning is that winning and losing are both parts of life. When you are experiencing victories, you should not stop learning and improving, and when you lose something, you should stay optimistic and keep working hard. Saina also did the same and was able to make a comeback even after frequent defeats.