World number nine Saina Nehwal became the national champion for the fourth time, defeating world number six PV Sindhu in the women’s singles final of Senior National Badminton Championship. Nehwal, who had previously won senior nationals in 2006, 2007 and 2017, won with the scoreline of 21-18, 21-15. Saina had defeated Sindhu in the 2017 final as well.

PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic silver medal, and one of the two Indian badminton players to ever win an Olympic medal – the other being Saina Nehwal. Sindhu won silver in Women’s singles at Commonwealth Games 2018 . She was also a silver medalist at the 2017 BWF World Championships and 2018 BWF World Championships consecutively.

Did You Know?

• The game developed in British India from the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock. European play came to be dominated by Denmark but the game has become very popular in Asia, with recent competitions dominated by China.
• Since 1992, badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport with four events: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, and women’s doubles, with mixed doubles added four years later.