Saina Nehwal has become a strong medal prospect at the upcoming London Olympics after her dominating performanmce over the formidable Chinese players at the Indonesian Open, asserts nine-time national badminton champion and two-time Olympian Aparna Popat.
The Lok Sabha on Monday felicitated badminton star Saina Nehwal and tennis player Sania Mirza.
On a high after clinching the Thailand Open title last week, Indian ace Saina Nehwal started her campaign at the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier with a thrilling three-game victory over Japan's Sayaka Sato in the women's singles competition in Jakarta.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal remained on course for her second title of the season as she reached the semi-finals of the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold with a straight-games victory over Sapsiree Taerattanachai in Bangkok on Friday.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal stamped her authority to storm into the final of the French Super Series outclassing German Juliane Schenk in straight sets in the women's badminton singles in Paris.
Fresh from her maiden Denmark Open title triumph, India ace Saina Nehwal started her French Open Super Series campaign in style, registering a hard-fought win over China's Li Han in women's singles event in Paris.
Saina Nehwal's struggle for form summed up a disappointing year for Indian Badminton, the rare high point of which was Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's World Championships bronze medal.
Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal set up a semifinal clash against old nemesis and World No. 1 Yihan Wang of China after easing past local hope Tine Baun in straight games at the Denmark Open badminton tournament in Odense, Denmark.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her rampaging comeback and notched up a straight games victory over Minatsu Mitani of Japan to advance to the quarter-finals of the Denmark Super Series.
Returning to the court after a two month break, Saina Nehwal made a rampaging start to her campaign at the Denmark Open, reaching the second round with a comfortable straight-game victory over Yeon Ju Bae of Korea in Odense.
Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu are training at separate academies of national coach Pullela Gopichand ever since their epic Commonwealth Games summit clash
The Indian Olympic Association and the federations might be against it but the National Sports Bill has got a collective thumbs up from India's top athletes, who feel the draft has the potential to drastically change the country's sports scene.
Rising Indian shuttler P V Sindhu continued her giant-killing run in the Li Ning China Masters Super Series, shocking London Olympics gold medallist Li Xuerui of China, to storm into the women's singles semi-finals on Friday.
With just two tournaments left for Olympic qualification, Indian contenders for the London Games are looking to rake up ranking points at the Asian Badminton Championships, beginning in Qingdao, China, on Tuesday.
Star Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal sailed into the second round of the Singapore Open with straight-game wins over their respective rivals in the women's singles event on Wednesday.
With the Swiss Open title in her bag, Saina Nehwal feels she is peaking at the right time for the London Olympics.
Parupalli Kashyap, who became the first Indian shuttler to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics Games, has said he draws inspiration from London Games bronze medallist Saina Nehwal. Kashyap, who received the Arjuna Award in a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday, also said he is aiming to break into the top-15 of world badminton ranking by the end of this year.
Basking in the glory of a bronze medal at the London Olympics, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal says it was very tough for her to win the medal in a sport dominated by the Chinese.
Saina Nehwal squandered four match points in her singles match as a young Indian women team bowed out of the Uber Cup Final after being hammered 0-5 by five-time champions Japan in a Group A match, in Bangkok.
Rediff.com gives you a pictorial rewind of all the excitement that unfolded in the sporting world in the week gone by...
Her eyes trained on the Chinese, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday revealed that long before winning the recently-held Swiss Open, she had to endure a difficult phase which, at times, even made her weep.
Saina Nehwal received a brand new BMW car for winning a bronze medal at the London Olympics from none other than batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who said that the world is yet to see the best of the star shuttler.
India has a large contingent of 619 athletes for the Commonwealth Games, comprising 379 male athletes and 240 female athletes.
India ace shuttler Saina Nehwal started her title defense on a positive note, thrashing Japan's Sayaka Sato in straight-games in the first round of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold at Basel, Switzerland.
Hit by a needle controversy but in high spirits nonetheless, the jumbo Indian contingent would be aiming to make it all good with strong medal-winning performances.
Her bronze medal in the London Olympics has sent India into a state of frenzy, but her shocking quarterfinal defeat in her maiden appearance at the mega event in Beijing four years ago, still rankles shuttle queen Saina Nehwal.
Describing Saina Nehwal as a 'phenomenal', her coach Pullela Gopichand today said if Saina had not won the Olympic medal, his life would have been incomplete.
Saina Nehwal's bronze medal win at the Olympics is the happiest moment of her career. For her coach Pullela Gopichand, however, it means the world.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was beaten in straight games by world number one Yihan Wang in the women's singles semifinals at the London Olympics on Friday but remained in the medal hunt as she will be competing in the bronze medal play-off.
After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Indian rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal cruised into the knock-out stage of the women's singles competition at the London Olympics after notching a comfortable victory over Belgium's Lianne Tan in a group stage match on Monday. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa stunned world No 10 Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Taipei 25-23, 16-21, 21-18.
On a comeback trail, Saina Nehwal made a resounding start to her campaign at the Hong Kong Super Series, advancing to the second round of women's singles with a hard-fought win over Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.
Birthday wishes poured in for the Prime Minister.
Ashwini Ponnappa, who will partner Jwala Gutta in the women's doubles at the Olympics, is confident of peaking in time and doing well at the mega event.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal says she still needs to fine-tune some aspects of her game before the London Olympics.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
The 16-year-old from Gujarat was rewarded for last year's stellar run, which saw her win titles in three junior international tournaments. It enabled her rise three places and take the top position in the BWF junior rankings.
The World No. 2 had pulled out of Badminton Asia Team Championships because of injury earlier this month, and also exempted herself from participating in the Lucknow Open and South Asian Championships to work on her fitness.
Raising hopes for a medal in next month's London Olympics, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal on Sunday won the Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world number three Xuerui Li of China in a hard-fought summit clash in Jakarta.
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