Saina Nehwal has set such high standards that even a minor dip in form raises concerns, according to badminton legend Prakash Padukone, who believes the Indian shuttler will soon be back to her winning ways.
The Indian challenge ended in the French Super Series badminton tournament after Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out following defeats in the quarter-finals in Paris. Eighth seed Saina squandered a first game lead and went down to top seed Chinese Wang Lin 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 in a 49-minute battle in the women's singles on Friday.
Terming the Siri Fort stadium as her happy hunting ground, World No 3 Saina Nehwal expressed confidence of putting up a good show in the upcoming Indian Open Super Series, which begins on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal made a disappointing return to the court, crashing to a first round defeat in the Japan Open Super Series badminton tournament in Tokyo on Wednesday. However, P Kashyap kept Indian hopes alive by advancing to the pre-quarter-finals.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been nominated for the 2012 Female Player of the Year Award of the Badminton World Federation on the back of an impressive performance in the season which had seen her win a bronze medal in London Olympics.
London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the All-England Badminton Championships with a straight games victory over Belaetrix Manuputi of Indonesia, in London, on Thursday night. The world No 2 Indian ace won 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes to set up a meeting with sixth seeded Chinese Shixian Wang on Saturday.
Both entered the pre-quarter-finals in the women's individual badminton event.
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.
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal suffered a shock straight-game defeat at the hands of world number 12 Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the semifinal to crash out of the Malaysia Open Super Series in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Saina Nehwal finally got her passport renewed after much dilly-dallying by the authorities, clearing her way to participate in the World Super Series Masters Badminton final in Malaysia from December 18. Saina had qualified for the Yonex Sunrise World super Series Masters finals starting on Thursday after two of the Chinese shuttlers pulled out of the event, making way for the Hyderabadi girl to participate in the prestigious event.
Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out after a first-round defeat, but P Kashyap and Anand Pawar kept India's hopes afloat, wining their opening men's singles matches in the Asian Badminton Championship in Suwon, Korea, on Wednesday. World No 8 and seventh seed Saina put up a brave effort but eventually ran out of steam against defending champion Jiang Yanjiao of China, losing 21-14, 14-21, 12-21 in a 40-minute battle in the women's singles.
Saina Nehwal's hopes of winning her maiden 'World Super Series Finals title this year went up in smoke as she lost her semi-final clash against top seed and current Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China in a three-game encounter.
Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap advanced to the second round of the China Super Series Premier after straight-game victories in the women's and men's singles respectively, in Shanghai, on Wednesday.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal continued her fine form, beating Ukrainian Larysa Gryga in straight games to advance to the women's singles pre-quarterfinals of the badminton competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing on Sunday. Saina beat Gryga 21-18, 21-10 to advance to the last 16, where she will face the winner of the match between world number three Hong Kong's Chen Wang and Slovakia's Eva Sladekova.
Saina Nehwal stormed into the women's singles quarter-finals at the World Badminton Championships at the Wembley Arena, in London, on Thursday. The world No 6 Indian ace was leading 21-3, 13-5 when her opponent, Pui Yin Yi of Hong Kong, seeded 14th, retired from the third round match.
The Indian cricket team was given a big thumbs up by major badminton players on Saturday.
Assured of atleast a bronze at the World Badminton Championship, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal described her quarterfinal win as "special" and said patience was the key to her success.
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.
Saina Nehwal beat Scotland's Susan Egelstaf on Tuesday, to book a spot in the final of the badminton event in the Commonwealth Games.
Saina Nehwal's hopes of defending her Singapore Open crown were dashed by Chinese Taipei's Shao Chieh Cheng in a thrilling three-game pre-quarter-final in Singapore City on Thursday. The fourth seeded Indian blew the advantage of winning the first game and suffered a 21-8, 10-21, 19-21 defeat against the world No 10 in a match that lasted 52 minutes.
Anand Pawar beat Chetan Anand 21-16, 21-19 in the quarterfinals of the Indian International Badminton Tournament.
After clinching her career's fourth Super Series title with a thumping victory in the Hong Kong Open, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday said the triumph has made up for the disappointment of last month's Asian Games debacle.
India's badminton queen Saina Nehwal has signed a 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management company, making her the country's highest paid sportsperson outside cricket.
The Indian challenge at the Swiss Super Series badminton tournament ended with Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal going down to their more fancied rivals.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal emerged the lone survivor at the US $400,000 All England Championship, thrashing Scotland's Kirsty Gilmour in straight-games to reach the second round even as compatriot PV Sindhu fell by the wayside in Birmingham.
Bollywood's obsession with biopics is getting stronger with each year. The focus seems to be on Indian sportswomen.
Saina Nehwal continued her irresistible form to claim her third straight title in as many weeks. The Indian ace won the Indonesia Open badminton Super Series in Jakarta on Sunday, beating Japan's Sayaka Sato 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in the final.
Saina Nehwal will carry a billion hopes when she takes the court in the World badminton Championship but the ace India shuttler remains quietly confident about her chances in the event which gets underway in Paris on Monday.
Ace shuttler and world number five Saina Nehwal on Thursday crashed out in the second round of the Asia Badminton Championship at Qingdao, China as India wrapped up their campaign on a disappointing note in the tournament.
Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal is very skillful and has the potential to win a medal at this year's London Olympics provided she continues to work hard, feels World No. 1 male shuttler Lee Chong Wei.
Having risen swiftly to the No 2 ranking in world badminton, Indian ace Saina Nehwal is confident of ascending to the summit soon.
Way ahead of the targets she set herself for 2010, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal is now aiming for the world number one ranking by the end of this year.
With the Swiss Open title in her bag, Saina Nehwal feels she is peaking at the right time for the London Olympics.
Making a comeback after undergoing a knee surgery, top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal says that she sometimes feels her badminton career could come to an end due to the injuries she has suffered. Saina, recently made a member of the International Olympic Committee's Athletics Commission, is returning to action at the China Super Series Premier starting November 15. The 26-year-old Saina had developed a knee problem a week before she was to leave for Rio Olympics and she carried the injury through the Games before she made an early exit by losing her second match.
India's rising badminton star P V Sindhu, who made headlines after her win over Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, draws inspiration from Saina Nehwal's on-court performances and wants to be as successful as the World No. 3 some day.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal came from behind to notch a hard-fought victory over Juan Gu of Singapore in a first round match at the Malaysian Open Super Series, in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday. The fourth seed won 19-21, 21-14, 21-15, in 56 minutes.
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal shepherded the Hyderabad Hotshots to a comfortable 3-2 victory over Mumbai Masters in the inaugural Indian Badminton League at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex at Balewadi, Pune.
The Indian ace fought back after losing the first game to beat Intanon Ratchanok of Thailand 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 at the Malaysian Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.
Sindhu was made to toil hard by China's He Bing Jiao
A year ago, Saina Nehwal had capped a hat-trick of Super Series titles with a triumph in Delhi, but the Indian ace now faces the task of overcoming a recent dip in form to defend her crown at the Hong Kong Open, which starts with the qualifiers on Tuesday.
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