Saina Nehwal Biography: Birth, Age, Family, Education, Career, Achievements, Political Party and More

Saina Nehwal Biography: Saina Nehwal is an ace badminton player who attained the World No. 1 ranking in 2015. She is second only to Prakash Padukone to achieve this feat and the only female player from India. She is also the first-ever badminton player from India to clinch an Olympic medal. In her career spanning over a decade, Nehwal has won several international and national titles, including Padma Bhushan.

Through this article, we take a look at her birth, age, family, career, achievements and more.

Saina Nehwal Biography

Saina Nehwal Biography: Birth, Age, and Family

Saina Nehwal was born on 17 March 1990 to Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal in Hisar, Haryana. Her father worked at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University while her mother was a state-level badminton player in Haryana.

Saina Nehwal Education

Saina Nehwal attended various schools in Haryana and Hisar to complete her pre-university education. These are Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Public School, Hyderabad, NIRD School Rajendranager, Hyderabad and St. Ann’s College for Women, Hyderabad.

Saina Nehwal Career

Saina Nehwal took up the sport at the age of eight after her family moved from Haryana to Hyderabad. She started playing badminton to socialize with other kids as she was not familiar with the local language. Additionally, she wanted to further her mother’s dream of becoming a national level badminton player.

In 2006, Saina Nehwal became the under-19 national champion and created history by winning the Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice—the first player to achieve this feat. At the age of 16, she became the first Indian woman and youngest player from Asia to win the Phillippines Open, a 4-star tournament.

After entering into the International Badminton circuit, Nehwal participated in various international championships such as the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships, the 2006 Doha Asian Games, and the 2007 BWF World Championships.

In 2008, she won the World Junior Badminton Championships, becoming the first Indian to achieve this feat. The same year, she won the Chinese Taipei Open and was named ‘The Most Promising Player’ by the BWF.

In 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title by winning the Indonesian Open. The same year, she won the India Grand Prix tournament.

Saina Nehwal won the 2010 India Open Grand Prix Gold, Singapore Open Super Series 2010 and defended her Indonesia Open title. She won the gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi and the 2010 Hong Kong Super Series—her fourth career Super Series title.

In 2011, she won the Swiss Open title.

The next year, she successfully defended her Swiss Open title, Thailand Open title, Indonesian Open, and Denmark Open. She won the bronze medal at the London Olympics.

In 2014, Nehwal won the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold Tournament, 2014 Australian Super Series, and became the first Indian to win the China Open.

She won the 2015 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold, and India Open, thereby becoming the first Indian player to achieve this feat in the Women’s category. The same year, she bagged silver in the World Championship held in Jakarta.

Saina Nehwal dealt with her injuries in early 2016 but eventually recovered and settled for bronze at the Badminton Asia Championships. She also won the Australian Super Series that year. Due to her injuries, Nehwal failed to make a mark at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Still recovering from the injuries, Nehwal won Malaysia Masters and settled for bronze at the World Championship. She defeated PV Sindhu to win the Senior National Badminton Championship.

In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Nehwal defeated PV Sindhu to win the gold medal. She went on winning bronze at the Asian Championships. She won bronze at the 2018 Asian Games, bringing the first medal for India after 36 years. In 2019, Nehwal won her first BWF Super 500 title, the Indonesia Masters.

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.

Saina Nehwal Achievements 

Saina Nehwal has won over 24 international titles, including 11 Super Series titles. In 2016, she was conferred the coveted Padma Bhushan by the GOI. She was also conferred with Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award by the GOI. 

Saina Nehwal Ranking

In June 2010, she reached a career-high of World No. 3 in the women’s singles badminton world’s rankings. A month later, she reached a career-high World No. 2 but dropped to No. 7 ranking in September 2010. She became the World No. 1 in 2015.

Saina Nehwal Coach

She received her initial training under Pullela Gopichand in his academy, Gopichand Badminton Academy, and joined Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore where she received training under U. Vimal Kumar and rose to World No. 1 rank in 2015. In 2017, Nehwal returned to train under Gopichand.

Saina Nehwal Husband

Saina Nehwal is married to fellow badminton player Parupalli Kashyap. The couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on 14 December 2018.

Saina Nehwal BJP

On 29 January 2020, Nehwal joined the BJP in Delhi in the presence of the Party’s National General Secretary, Arun Singh. She draws her inspiration from Prime Minister Modi. Her sister, Abu Chandranshu, also joined the party.  

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