Thursday, April 7, 2011

Saina Nehwal - Awards

List of major awards won by Saina Nehwal for her badminton achievements.

2010:
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award:
Saina Nehwal was awarded the "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award" which is India's highest award for excellence in the field of sports, following her terrific achievements in badminton in the year 2010. The Khel Ratna award consists of a bronze statuette, citation and cash prize of Rs.7.5 laks for the award winner, and is handed over to the sportsperson by the President of India.

Hyderbadi shuttler Saina Nehwal, however, could not personally collect the prize from the Indian President Pratibha Patil gave on 29-Aug-2010 at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, as she had not yet returned from Paris, where she lost in the quarterfinals of the World championships.

Saina was almost an automatic choice for the Khel Ratna, due to her phenomenal rise in the badminton world as she rose to no.2 in the badminton world rankings and had won 3 super-series tournaments in 2010, apart from winning other prestigious titles the same year. She earlier had been the world junior badminton champion apart from having surprised everyone by reaching the quarter-finals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Padma Shri award:
Saina Nehwal won the prestigious Padma Shri award in Jan-2010 barely 4 months after receiving the Arjuna award in 2009. The award carries a medal, a scroll of honour and a cash prize of Rs. 5.00 lakhs.

  
2009:
Arjuna Award:
Badminton champion Saina Nehwal was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna award for sporting excellence, in the year 2009 following her success at winning the Indonesian Open Super series title, apart from winning other prestigious titles such as the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold. The Arjuna award was handed over to Saina by the President of India, Pratibha Patil at the presidential palace in New Delhi. The Arjuna awardee is given a statuette, a scroll of honour, ceremonial dress and a cash award of Rs. 5 lakhs.

While Saina Nehwal received the Arjuna award, her coach and former Indian badminton legend Pullela Gopichand who runs the Gopichand badminton academy in Hyderabad was awared the Dronacharya award for his excellent work done in the field of sports coaching.

On receiving the Arjuna award, the then 19-year old Saina Nehwal dedicated the award to her parents and her coach Pullela Gopichand, and said that the award would motivate her to go for gold at the London Olympics in 2012.


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