Saina Nehwal – Historical Firsts

This International Women’s Day as Saina Nehwal aims to “Make it Happen”, we bring you the many firsts of the badminton superstar. She creates history every time she steps on court and today, we celebrate the memorable moments of her career.

Here’s wishing all of you on International Women’s Day and Saina all the best for the All England finals today.

Reaching the final of the All England 2015, she made history by becoming the first woman from India to do so.

In 2010, she became the first to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, which only 2 Indians have managed to win. Prakash Padukone and P.Gopichand

Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics when she clinched bronze in London 2012.

Four years earlier to this, she became the first to reach the quarter-finals. Following the pattern, Rio 2016 seems very promising.

The Hyderabadi was the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships.

She was the first player ever to win the Asian Satellite badminton championship twice.

That is a feat that still remains unparalleled.

Winning the Indonesian Open in 2009, she became the first Indian to win a Superseries event.

She also is the first to win the Swiss Open, the Singapore Superseries, the Australian Open and the China Open.

The 24 year old is the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth gold in Badminton, achieving this feat in Delhi(2010).

In the 2014 Asian Games she was part of the team that won bronze in the Women’s team event.

Saina is the first Indian woman to be ranked inside the top 3 of the World ranking, reaching a career high of No.2

She is currently ranked No.3 in the World.

Fun Fact:

Saina’s first love was karate. She held a brown belt in the discipline before shifting her focus to Badminton and making her international debut in the 2003 Junior Circuit(Denmark and Germany). That is a decision she will never regret.

Saina Nehwal’s determination and focus have taken her to heights. She is an icon. Icon for India,   for badminton and importantly, for women empowerment. She is an inspiration and we hope she will taste success everywhere she goes, starting with the All England Final today.

Go Saina!