Date:24/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/24/stories/2006122410111800.htm

Sport - Badminton

India celebrates Saina's emergence

New Delhi: Circa 2006 celebrated the birth of a new sporting star in Saina Nehwal, who burst onto the international badminton scene with feats, which no Indian shuttler had achieved before.

The sixteen-year-old Saina won a major international title, stood at the runner-up podium at World Junior Championship, helped the Indian team to a bronze medal finish in the Commonwealth Games and made some big names of the world bite the dust.

In her very first year in international circuit, the Hyderabad-based teenager was India's top women badminton player, climbing a staggering 87 rungs in the singles rankings to attain her career-best ranking of World No. 27 three weeks back.

Brightest prospect

Starved of sporting icons, the media and the badminton fraternity hailed Saina as the brightest prospect to emerge from the country in years.

It took 21 years for an Indian to win the prestigious All England title when Pullela Gopichand won it in 2001, after Prakash Padukone's famous 1980 triumph.

Shuttle queen Aparna Popat has done the country proud in many international meets and Saina emerged as an inheritor of that legacy.

There were other proud moments for the sport as well with the country earning a quarterfinal appearance in Thomas Cup and a bronze medal in the mixed team event of the Commonwealth Games.

India also swept the honours in the South Asian Games in Colombo, winning five gold, four silver and a bronze medal. — PTI