Saina Nehwal is eyeing the number 1 spot in world badminton for sure!
Her brilliant performance at the recently concluded All England Championships speaks volumes about her dominance in this sport; not long ago, she was relegated to the third spot in the rankings, but now she has again regained her career-best ranking of World number 2conferred on her by the Badminton World Federation.
Saina with coach Gopichand Pullela
Saina’s Rise To The Number 2 Spot
- India’s most promising female badminton player, Saina Nehwal has done it again, even after a shocking loss in the final of the All England Championships against World champion Caroline Marin.
- She has now replaced Wang Shixian of China to become the World number 2 player in professional female badminton rankings.
- She is now just a step behind China’s Li Xuerui to gain her dream of being the number 1 player in the world; a first for any female Indian badminton player. Currently, she has 74381 points in comparison to Xuerui’s 79214 points.
- Saina failed to go into the record books as the first ever Indian woman to win the coveted ‘Wimbledon of badminton’ when she lost 21-16, 14-21 and 7-21 to the Spaniard Carolina. Saina had earlier beaten Carolina in their three previous meetings, but this time luck wasn’t in her favour.
Saina’s next challenge is of conquering the Indian Open that is scheduled to begin this month. She is yet to win this title and winning this title will add credible points to her world title.
Talking to the media, Saina said, ‘I am very happy to regain my position as the world number two in the world rankings. After the All England Championship, I knew that I will become the number two this week for sure. I will continue to work harder and try to become the world number one very soon!’
We all hope that she continues to strengthen her form and put this loss behind her to surge towards the peak of rankings. Her rise to fame began ever since she came under the watchful training of former badminton veteran Pullela Gopichand.
Pullela Gopichand
Gopichand, is one of the only two Indians to win the All England Championships after Prakash Padukone. If Saina can achieve this feat in the future, her stature as a credible badminton player for our nation will grow to insurmountable heights. She is already an inspiration to thousands of youngsters hoping to make it big in the international badminton leagues.
