Wishes poured in for Indian badminton superstar Saina Nehwal, as she turned 31 on Wednesday. Saina will be participating in the All-England Open Championships, which is scheduled to begin from Wednesday. She has been drawn against seventh seed Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in the first round. Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh took to Twitter to wish her a successful year, with the Tokyo Olympics also set to take place in 2021. "Happy birthday @Nsaina! Hope you have a successful year ahead and keep making the country proud my best wishes", Yuvraj tweeted.
Even former India pacer Irfan Pathan took to the social media platform, to pass on his wishes. "Happy birthday champion @NSaina have a great one", tweeted Irfan.
"Thank u so much," replied Saina.
Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh wished her good health and happiness on her birthday. He wrote, "Happy Birthday @NSaina - have a stupendous one - may the year be filled with happiness, love and great health."
Here are the wishes for Saina posted on Twitter:
Saina is the first badminton player from India to win a medal at the Olympics, when she won bronze at London 2012. She is also the first player from her country to reach the final of the World Championship, where she won silver in 2015.
The three-time Olympian is currently not in the best of form, and could also miss out on qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Games. She is outside the top 16 in the rankings, and has also won only one of the four tournaments she has played in, this year.