New Delhi: Women's Singles and DoublesAge: 19
Location: Bangalore, Karnataka
World Rank: 6
She won the 2006 Phillipines Open to become first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event. Entering the tournament as the 86th seed, Saina went on to stun several top seeded players including number seed Huaiwen XU before defeating Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia for the title.
She was also the runner up at the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships.
In the month of June, she qualified to the quarter final of Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold and the semi-final of the Singapore Super Series 2008.
She was a silver medallist at the last edition in Incheon, South Korea in 2006.
She became the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals at the Olympic Games when she upset world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong.
She also won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Grand Prix in September, her second GP.
In the Commonwealth Youth Games, Nehwal clinched the gold.
She was chosen player of the year in 2008.
Saina had also won World Junior Badminton Championship in 2008.
In June 2009, Saina became the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament after clinching the Indonesia Open with a stunning victory over higher-ranked Chinese Lin Wang in Jakarta.