Saina Nehwal Thanks Coach Vimal Kumar for "Making the Difference"
Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win a silver medal at the World Badminton Championships.
Saina Nehwal is having a phenomenal 2015 and she has credited her coach Vimal Kumar for her all her achievements so far in the year. Saina became the first Indian to win a silver medal at the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta. In the final, she lost to world No.1 and defending champion Carolina Marin in straight games. (Saina Nehwal Says Mistakes In First Game Cost Her)
"It has been a phenomenal one year for me and I am thankful to my coach (Vimal Kumar) for that. Moving base to Bangalore has made a huge difference," Saina told NDTV. The world No.2 had split with her former coach Pullela Gopichand in September last year and shifted from Hyderabad to Bangalore to train under Vimal Kumar. (Kumble, Gutta Congratulate Saina On Silver)
Saina said she was relieved to break the quarterfinal barrier at the prestigious tournament. (Saina Was Under Pressure To Win: Father)
"I am disappointed, but also relieved. Getting beyond the quarter-final stage was a mental block for me, glad I got past that. I didn't expect to be in the final but reaching the final was overwhelming," Saina said. (Saina Settles For World Badminton Silver)
The world No.2 said she committed too many errors and that cost her the historic gold medal.
"Carolina (Marin) didn't play extraordinary badminton. I made errors that I could have avoided easily," she added.
Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a bronze in 1983 in men's singles. India waited for another 28 years when Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa clinched the women's doubles bronze in 2011. P.V. Sindhu won two back-to-back women's singles bronzes in 2013 and 2014.
Here are the highlights of Saina's achievements in 2015:
# Saina won the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold.
# She became the first Indian woman shuttler to reach the finals of All England Open Badminton Championships.
# On 29 March 2015, Saina won her maiden women's singles title at the India Open BWF Super Series.
# She became the first Indian female shuttler to be World No.1.