Top six most memorable moments of Saina Nehwal's career

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian shuttler to have won the World Junior Championships.

Fondly nicknamed the “Queen of Istora Senayan,” Saina Nehwal is truly a queen of Indian badminton as well. The pioneer of the modern glorious days coming up for Indian badminton. A former world No.1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles, only Indian after Prakash Padukone to become World No.1 and held it for nine consecutive weeks, a total of 14 weeks.

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won the Junior World Championships title. She has contributed significantly to two historic back-to-back Uber Cup medals in 2014 and 2016 and the 2014 Asian Games women’s team medal.

She achieved a rare feat by winning medals from the quintet of badminton tournaments – the Olympics, the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Championships and the Asian Games, thus becoming the first Indian to do so.

In this article, we will take a look at Saina Nehwal’s most memorable moments in his career.

Also Read: Saina Nehwal’s career in numbers, records, stats, and titles

2008 Junior World Championships

The first Junior World Championships medal for Saina came in 2006 where she lost to later World Champion as well, Wang Yihan. Two years later, Saina finally won her first Junior World Championships title. She remains the only Indian to win the title of Junior Champion so far.

2015 World Championships

At the 205 World Championships, Nehwal was seeded 2nd. She defeated the former World Champion Wang Yihan in the quarterfinal in three close games 21–15, 19–21, 21–19; thus assured herself of a first-ever medal at the World Championships.

She beat home hope Lindaweni Fanetri in the semifinal and created history by becoming the first-ever player from India to contest the World Badminton championship finals. She settled for the silver after going down to Carolina Marín in the final. But this marked India’s first-ever silver at the World Championships level.

Also Read: Top five Indian badminton players with most BWF 1000 titles

2010 Commonwealth Games

2010 was a kind of a year for Saina. Nehwal became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the All England Open. She won the India Grand Prix Gold and the Singapore Open defended her Indonesia Open title and reached her career-high of world rank two. Later she crashed out of the World Championships earlier though being a tournament favourite.

She took a break for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and eventually won gold from a match point down. After her win, Nehwal said, “When I was a match-point down, it was like a shock. It was a big match and winning it means a lot to me. Even many years from now, those present here will always remember how Saina won the gold. It is a proud feeling”.

Also Read: Top five fastest smashes in women’s badminton history

2009 Indonesia Open

In June 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title, by winning the Indonesia Open. She beat Chinese Wang Lin in the final 12–21, 21–18, 21–9. Nehwal on winning the tournament said, “I had been longing to win a super series tournament since my quarter-final appearance at the Olympics”.

Later she known as the “Queen of Istora Senayan”, as she reached the final of the Indonesia Open four times and won the title thrice. Her first World Championships and Asian Games medal also came from the same venue. She has also won a title at Indonesia Masters and once a runner-up.

2018 Asian Games

Nehwal was unseeded at the 2018 Asian Games. She then won the quarterfinal, after making a stunning comeback against 4th seeded Ratchanok Intanon, when she was 3–12 down in Game 1 but eventually won it in 2 games thus making it to the semifinals.

She made history by winning the first medal for India in badminton after a long wait of 36 years. Later, PV Sindhu joined her as well who also became the first-ever silver medalist at the event from the Indian contingent.

Also Read: Top five badminton tournaments with highest prize money ft. Malaysia Open

2012 London Olympics

At the London Olympics, Nehwal was seeded 4th in the draw. She defeated Swiss Sabrina Jaquet (2–0) and Belgian Lianne Tan in straight games in the group stage. She faced Tine Baun, the number 5 seed in the quarterfinal of the event whom she defeated with a 21–15, 22–20 scoreline.

After the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she missed out on the Olympics semifinal appearance from 11-3 up in the decider, four years later, she made it to her maiden semifinal appearance at the Games.

She afterwards advanced to the semifinals where she lost to top seed Wang Yihan in two straight games 13–21, 13–21. On 4 August, she won the bronze medal when Wang Xin retired from the bronze medal playoff with an injury after taking the first game. This marked India’s first-ever medal at the Olympics from badminton.

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