Super Saina aims Olympics

Saina Nehwal's has been a fairytale story this year (2010) with the ace shuttler reaching new heights both professionally and personally.

Her latest triumph came in the Hong Kong Open Super Series. This was Saina's third Super Series title of the year and fourth in total.

This victory comes right after her disappointing quarter-final exit in the Asian Games.

It was fantastic especially since I didn't do well in the Asian Games. I didn't train much before this tournament and didn't expect to win. May be because I practiced a lot before the Asian Games so I decided to relax but I am very happy to win it here," said Saina, who had lost in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in China last month.

The 20-year-old Indian capped her career's fourth Super Series title triumph with a 15-21 21-16 21-17 win over the third seed Chinese in a gruelling one hour and 11 minutes summit clash at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium.

After coming back to the country, Saina has said that she would love to win a medal at the 2012 London Olympics and also become World No 1 in the years to come.

Saina's biggest triumph of the year came in front of her home crowd in the national capital during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Knowing that a gold medal was crucial for India to finish second in the medals tally, Saina fought off nerves and her opponent to clinch the gold medal for her country with a great comeback performance.

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal created history by winning her third Super series title when she won the final of the Indonesian Open Super series tournament.

Saina Nehwal beat Sayaka Sato of Japan 21-19,13-21,21-11 to win her third straight international title in three weeks.

Saina's rise follows back-to-back title triumphs at the India Open Grand Prix and the Singapore Open Super Series respectively. By virtue of the consecutive titles earlier this month, Saina, with 64791.2637 points, made a significant upward movement in the chart and is just behind Chinese duo of Yihan Wang and Xin Wang.

Saina's previous best ranking was a fifth position which she attained in March this year after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the prestigious All England Super Series Championships. She had successfully lead the Indian Women Team to the Uber Cup finals, winning all her matches in March 2010.

However, she dropped to the sixth position in the subsequent weeks. Saina is presently playing in the Indonesia Open and is well on course for a hat-trick of titles after reaching the quarterfinals of the Super Series event.

She has come up the ranks and has won gold in the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games and World Junior Badminton Championships.

Saina Nehwal was bestowed with the Arjuna Award in 2009 for her superlative display in the sport of badminton and her continuous success resulted in the government honouring her with the Padma Shri in 2010.

Saina's performances on the big stage are commendable as she reached the quarters of the World Championships and the semis of the Super series finals.

She is the only Indian shuttler who has constantly troubled the Chinese and other South-East Asian badminton players.

In 2009, Saina Nehwal's victory in the Indonesian Open made her the first Indian shuttler to win a Badminton World Federation Super series title. She has followed that up with her victory at the Singapore Open.

After her consistent performance in the international circuit, Saina Nehwal has emerged as one of India's best bet for a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games.