Relieved after securing her maiden title of the year, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal said more than her technique and strokeplay, she needs to work on becoming a calmer player as that will improve all other aspects of her game.
Former all-England badminton champion Pullela Gopichand has been honoured with all major sports awards - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna and Dronacharya. His experience taught him a lot and today, he coaches badminton champ Saina Nehwal. Gopichand tells Urmila Rao of Careers 360, how his career took shape.
The 28-year-old's comment came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with 2018 Commonwealth Games medallists in the national capital on Monday.
Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal continued her impressive run, progressing into the women's singles semi-finals with a straight-game win over unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi at the Asia Badminton Championship in Wuhan, on Friday.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu continued their winning run at the Malaysia Open notching up contrasting victories to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition at the USD 550,000 Super Series Premier tournament.
World Badminton Championships silver medallist Saina Nehwal feels her decision to shift base to Bangalore and train under Vimal Kumar turned out to be a masterstroke.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal fears that mass pull out by top athletes from the Commonwealth Games will rob spectators of a chance to witness some great contests.
HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma and Sourabh Verma are the men's singles players who have decided to withdraw while doubles specialists Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have also opted out. Leading Indian women's singles players PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal - both previous Olympic medallists - are making the trip to England, as are their male counterparts Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
Saina Nehwal bagged her first title of the year, clinching the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold trophy with a straight-games victory over Ji Hyun Sung of Korea in the final in Switzerland on Sunday.
It was supposed to be her best chance of winning the coveted title but Saina Nehwal let it slip as she went down in straight games to unseeded Japanese Eriko Hirose in the quarter-finals of the prestigious All England Badminton Championship in Birmingham.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal overcame a jittery start to defeat spirited Korean Seung Hee Bae and enter the second round of the All England Badminton Championships in Birmingham.
The quarter-final ouster in World Championship is a thing of past for ace shuttler Saina Nehwal whose only target is now to clinch a medal for the country in next month's Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi.
Title-contenders Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth advanced to prequarter-finals of the Thailand Open after notching up straight-game wins in the women's and men's singles competition respectively.
Images from the Arjuna Awards presentation at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday.
While Saina made short work of USA's Beiwan Zhang, second seed Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Japanese Sayaka Sato.
India's Saina Nehwal cruised into the quarter-finals of the World Badminton Championships, defeating Russia's Ella Diehl in the third round of the women's singles event in Paris on Thursday.
'NO one is more selfless and brave than a soldier.'
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal failed to sustain her impressive touch as she suffered a straight-game defeat at the hands of world No 1 Yihan Wang of China in the semi-final of the Malaysian Open Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur.
India blanked Scotland 5-0 to enter the quarterfinals of the badminton mixed team event, displaying tremendous form en route to their third successive clean sweep at the Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, on Friday.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal is not too bothered about her rankings. The 20-year-old knows by winning tournaments she can inch closer to the top spot.
The fourth seed Indian lost 17-21, 10-21 to the world number six Jiang in a 36-minute battle in the women's singles competition.
The Indian cricket team was given a big thumbs up by major badminton players on Saturday.
India's challenge at the Korean Open ended after the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their quarter-final match in the Super Series tournament in Seoul on Friday.
Sindhu, who is currently competing at the French Open in Paris, jumped one rung to stay one spot behind Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying, who continues to dominate the rankings.
Saina Nehwal made a disappointing return from injury, suffering a shock defeat to Japan's Sayaka Sato in the second round of the women's singles at the Korean Super Series in Seoul on Thursday. The world No 4 Indian was beaten by Sayaka 21-17, 19-21, 11-21 in 53 minutes. P Kashyap was also a second round casualty after losing 16-21, 13-21 to third seed Peter Hoeg Gade of Denmark in 38 minutes, in the men's singles.
Saina lost 15-21, 21-23 in the women's singles match that lasted 37 minutes to crash out
An erratic Saina Nehwal let slip an early advantage to go down to World No 1 Wang Yihan in the summit clash of the BWF season-ending World Super Series Finals in Liuzhou, China on Sunday.
Back to training after going through a rigorous rehabilitation process, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal said she is working hard to make a return at the China Super Series Premier but will take a call only after consulting her physio Heath Matthews.
After notching up an incredible hat-trick of international titles, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday said she is confident of becoming the world's number one player soon.
With a hat-trick of international titles and a career-best world ranking of number three, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has already achieved the targets that she had set for 2010, a jubilant national coach Pullela Gopichand said on Sunday.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal dished out yet another dominating performance, routing Japan's Eriko Hirose 21-9, 21-10 to storm into the final of the Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament in Jakarta on Saturday. Saina thus earned a shot at her second successive Super Series title, having won the one in Singapore last week.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal overcame an opening game deficit to reach the semifinal of the Indonesian Open badminton tournament and stay on course for back-to-back Super Series title in Jakarta on Friday.
The Indian, ranked 27th in the world, lost 15-21, 21-12, 16-21 to her world number 11 opponent at the Elizabeth Stadium on Tuesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Thursday took a giant stride towards realising her goal of becoming the world's numero uno player as she jumped three places to a career-best third in the latest international rankings.
List of the athletes who will represent India at the 29th Olympic Games.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Indonesian Aprilia Yuswandari 21-17, 21-11 to set up a women's singles summit-clash with second seed Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia at the Yonex-Sunrise Indian Open Grand Prix badminton tournament in Chennai.
Top seeds Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand cruised to the pre-quarterfinals even as three other top Indian shuttlers bite the dust at the India Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Chennai on Wednesday.
The season-ending India Open Grand Prix suffered a huge setback on Wednesday with star attraction Saina Nehwal pulling out of the women's singles draw due to an ankle injury.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal arrived in Hyderabad on Monday after clinching her third Super Series title of the year at the Hong Kong Open in Wanchai.
After clinching her career's fourth Super Series title with a thumping victory in the Hong Kong Open, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal said the triumph has made up for the disappointment of last month's Asian Games debacle.
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