“Dream it, Believe it and Achieve it.”
The line quoted above is an appropriate description for Saina Nehwal. In her career so far, she has had tremendous achievements.
Out of all these, the most important achievement is Saina Nehwal being ranked as the number one in the world by the Badminton World Federation(BWF).
Having achieved this, Saina Nehwal also becomes India’s first female shuttler who has been ranked number 1 in the world by the Badminton World Federation(BWF).
Truly, Saina Nehwal is an inspiration for youngsters, especially females. She has given a definition of making a remarkable career in sports.
And so, there is a biopic coming up on Saina Nehwal in 2019.
Hold on, let us know about her a bit closer before we talk about the biopic.
Saina Nehwal's Personal Life
Saina Nehwal is the second daughter of Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal. She was born in Hisar District, Haryana on 17 March 1990.
Her parents were former badminton champions from Haryana. They were sports lovers themselves and so didn’t stop their daughters from entering into it.
Saina Nehwal’s elder sister, Chandranshu Nehwal is also an athlete and played volleyball.
Saina started playing badminton to fulfill her mother's dream of becoming a national level badminton player.
Saina Nehwal’s Education And Training
Saina Nehwal completed her first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar. Later, she did her 12th from St. Ann's College for Women at Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad.
Saina Nehwal began playing badminton at an early age of eight years. She received training under the guidance of Dronacharya awardee S. M. Arif, at Pullela Gopichand Academy.
Her father was among the top players in the university circuit. He used his provident fund to invest in good badminton training for her daughter, Saina. This was how her dream was given wings.
Besides being a great shuttler, Saina Nehwal has a brown belt in karate and is a philanthropist as well. She was also ranked 18th on the list of most charitable athletes.
Saina Nehwal’s Career And Records
This happens to be the most exciting part of this article. We are actually now going to know why Saina Nehwal has been ranked number 1 in the world. Let us get started.
Saina Nehwal’s career kick-started when she won the Junior National Championship at a young age of 13. In 2003, Saina went on to win the Junior Czech Open.
She backed the second position in the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games and became the first player to win the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice (in 2005 and 2006).
Saina Nehwal came into the eyes of everyone at the age of 16, when she helped India get team bronze in 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Winning the super-series tournament, the Philippines Open in the same year, Saina showcased her potential to the World.
Saina Nehwal won the World Junior Badminton Championship defeating the Japanese rival Sayaka Sato in 2008. Later in the same year, she was honored by Most Promising Player of the Year by the Badminton World Federation(BWF).
In 2009, Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win the Indonesia Open. Acknowledging her outstanding performance in national sports, the Government of India conferred her the Arjuna Award.
With so much on her cart, she has been inspiring the young talents all over the world. Yet, she didn’t have an idea of what was waiting for her in the future years.
2010 was one of the most successful years for Saina Nehwal. In the year 2010, she won five tournaments, including India Open Grand Prix Gold, Indonesia Open, Singapore Open, and Hong Kong Super Series.
Also, she clinched a bronze medal at the Asian Badminton Championship in 2010. At the CWG 2010 finals, Saina Nehwal won the gold in singles in an epic 70-minute clash against Malaysian Mew Choo Wong, and went on embracing a silver in the mixed team event.
Saina Nehwal was honored with India’s highest award for sporting excellence - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, in the year 2010. Moreover, in the same year, she was conferred with the Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India).
In 2011, Saina Nehwal won the Switzerland Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and came second in the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold. She also came second in the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier and the BWF Super Series Masters Finals.
Saina Nehwal successfully did her Swiss Open Title by defeating World Number 2 Wang Shixian of China on 18 March 2012. This proved to be her 22nd birthday gift.
Later in the same year, she defeated Thailand's Ratchanok Inthanon to lift the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title and also won the Indonesia Open Super Series by defeating World Number 3 Li Xuerui of China. This became her third Indonesia Open title.
Saina Nehwal created history by becoming the first Indian badminton player to win a medal at the Olympics when she won a bronze at 2012 London Olympics.
Besides this, she also became the second Indian woman to win an individual medal at a sports event when she won a bronze medal at 2012 London Olympics.
Later in the same year, Saina Nehwal became the only Indian after Prakash Padukone to win the title of Danish Open Superseries.
Saina Nehwal, in 2014, defeated World Championship bronze medalist P.V. Sindhu to win the Women's Singles of India Open Grand Prix Gold Tournament.
Later, she defeated Spain's Carolina Marin to win Women's Singles of the 2014 Australian Super Series. The win helped Saina to reach the ranking of World no. 7, climbing up by two spots.
In the same year, Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win the China Open Super Series Premier by beating Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21–12, 22–20 in the final.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal won the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold by defeating Spain's Carolina Marin in the final.
She became the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the finals of the All England Open Badminton Championship but lost to Carolina in the final.
But in the same year, Saina Nehwal won her maiden women's singles title at the India Open BWF Super Series. This added weight to the World Number One Title awarded by the BWF, when it came for Saina Nehwal, later that year.
Saina Nehwal became the first ever Indian woman player to be ranked World No. 1 in badminton. In the same year, she bagged a silver medal in the World Badminton Championship held in Jakarta by losing to Carolina Marin in the finals.
The year 2016 didn’t start that well for Saina. She dealt with a lot of injuries but fortunately also recovered soon.
She reached in the semi-finals of India Open, Malaysia Open and the Badminton Asia Championships but couldn’t qualify for the finals in all the three.
The year was not going that well for Saina until the prayers of millions of fans worked.
At the Australian Super Series, Saina finally reached the finals and also won her first title of the year after defeating China's Sun Yu.
Saina Nehwal was honored with Padma Bhushan (the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India) in the year 2016.
Saina Nehwal entered 2017, with maiden Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title.
She went on to reach the quarterfinals of the All England Championships 2018 but couldn't perform well much of the year due to the knee injury.
Saina won the bronze medal in the World Badminton Championships at Glasgow, which was her second consecutive medal at World Badminton Championship and a record-breaking 7th consecutive quarterfinal.
Later in the same year, she won the 82nd National Badminton Championship by beating P. V. Sindhu in the final.
Saina Nehwal had a good start to the year 2018, reaching the finals of the Indonesia Masters 2018.
She won her second gold in Commonwealth Games women's singles, after beating P V Sindhu in the final and eventually led the Indian team to another gold medal in the mixed team event.
Saina then clinched a bronze in the Asian badminton championship, which was her third medal in the tournament altogether, as she went down fighting to the defending champion Tai Tzu Ying.
In Asian Games 2018, Saina Nehwal made history by winning the first woman Asian Games badminton medal for India. She went down fighting to Tai Tzu Ying in the semi-final, winning a bronze medal.
Saina Nehwal achieved a rare feat by winning medals from the prestigious quintet of badminton tournaments - the Olympics, the World Championships, the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Championships and the Asian Games.
Such a vivid display of sportsmanship and perseverance!
Saina Nehwal’s Biopic
Saina Nehwal, 28 years old (2018), is ranked 10th in the World Ranking of Women’s Singles and ranked 30th in the World Tour Ranking of Women’s Singles, with a total career wins of 406.
An incredible player, who has always stolen the headlines for her wins deserves more than newspaper mentions.
Therefore, a biopic is being made on Saina Nehwal by Amol Gupta, in which actress Shraddha Kapoor will play the role of Saina Nehwal.
A few pictures of the Saina Nehwal biopic have been released and have left fans of Saina Nehwal curious. After having movies like Sanju, excitement for biopics is understandable.
Shraddha Kapoor told that she’s been preparing for the role for several months. She also took over 40 classes of badminton in preparation for this biopic.
Her dedication and hard work can be predicted easily through the Saina Nehwal biopic released pictures.
Saina Nehwal is a gem for India. She has brought laurels for the country by winning over 23 international titles and still counting. She’s the only female Indian shuttler to have all the badminton awards in her bag.
But that’s all about the good side of the picture. The biopic shall bring up the struggles and challenges that Saina Nehwal has faced in building such a splendid career.
We hope that she keeps on bringing more laurels for the country in the years ahead!