Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win the Olympic medal at the London 2012 Games which proved to be a significant milestone for Indian badminton. The singles bronze made her the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in badminton. It also gave the much-inspired spark to the Indian shuttler PV Sindhu who won a historic silver in Rio four years later
She was the first Indian to reach Badminton World Federation World Championships final as well as the first Indian to win a Super Series title and also the first Indian to win two women singles gold medals (2010 and 2018) at the Commonwealth Games.
After the 2012 Olympic medal, Nehwal’s second peak in career came after she left the Gopichand Academy in 2014 and was trained under coach Vimal Kumar.
Under former national champion and a Olympian from Barcelona 1992, Vimal Kumar, Saina Nehwal went on to become the first Indian woman badminton player to become world number 1 in women singles in 2015.
She further attained the world number 1 position at the India Open Super Series in late Marchin the same year after her closest challenger, Carolina Marin, lost in the semi-final.
Saina Nehwal has been conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award, apart from India’s third highest civilian award – the Padma Bhushan.