Ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated local favourite Lindaweni Fanetri in 21-17, 21-17 in the last-four to reach her maiden final of the Badminton World Championships in Jakarta.
The Olympics bronze medallist became the first Indian ever to make it to the final of the world championships.
Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal is an Indian badminton player who is currently ranked No. 2 in the world by Badminton World Federation Women’s Singles 2015. She is the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics.
AWARDS- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri, Arjuna Award for Badminton, CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Sports.
Olympic medals: Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women’s singles
Road to the Final
- Beat Chinese Taipei’s Cheung Ngan Yi 21-13, 21-9 to reach Round 3
- Beat Japan’s 14th seed Sayaka Takahashi 21-18, 21-14 to enter quarters
- Beat Wang Yihan of China 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 to reach semis
- Beat Indonesia’s Lindaweni Fanetri 21-17, 21-17 to enter title clash
Key Facts
- Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a bronze at the 1983 edition. Like Saina, Padukone had also come across an Indonesian in the semis. However, he could not overcome Icuk Sugiarto
- This will be India’s fifth medal at the World Championship since its inception in 1977. P. V. Sindhu clinched the bronze twice in 2013 and 2014 and Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa notched up a bronze in women’s doubles at the 2011 edition. Saina is assured of at least a silver in 2015.
