Published: April 18, 2026 at 6:12 pm
Olympic Games medalist Saina Nehwal was the first Indian woman badminton player to break down the Great Wall of China. Before the Hyderabad-based player had come onto the international scene, the Chinese women were right on top of the world. The Chinese brooked no challenge as players from the other nations were always also-rans.
Saina significantly broke Chinese dominance during the early 2010s by becoming a consistent challenger and defeating top-ranked Chinese players. Her 2009 Indonesia Open win made her the first Indian to win a Super Series title, leading to a what became a ‘Saina vs China’ era where she achieved the World No. 1 ranking.
On April 2, 2015, Saina became the first Indian badminton player to reach the World No. 1 ranking, breaching a field historically dominated by Chinese shuttlers. By 2011, Saina openly stated that Chinese shuttlers were ‘no more invincible,’ as she and other international players started consistently beating them.
On Episode 2 of I.I.M.U.N.’s Before I Became Me, hosted by Rishabh Shah, Saina reflected on a defining phase in Indian sport, her years alongside P V Sindhu that helped bring badminton into the mainstream.
The rivalry between Saina and Sindhu was a defining era for the sport in India. Although Sindhu is six years younger, they competed closely, with Saina winning their first meeting in 2014 and Sindhu winning the 2017 India Open. They met in multiple finals, including the 2018 Commonwealth Games where Saina defeated Sindhu.
Sindhu and I made each other very good players: Saina
Looking back at that period, Saina said: “We both, I think, made each other very good players. When I look back, I think we both were good rally players, we both could attack very hard, and we could actually pull over such difficult matches. We both had similar qualities of playing tough matches. I think that era, the last 10–15 years, was very good because of her and me. We were winning back-to-back titles, people started knowing about badminton, and they began watching it like they watched cricket.”
https://youtu.be/PxSsW-FpiGU?si=hGYpA2SIsfVycx2i
Speaking about how talent is shaped early on, she noted: “If he or she is capable of doing well, they should ideally come into the circuit at 14–15 years of age.”
“If schools can support kids, especially those kids who cannot go to an academy and train, they can at least get facilities at school. If they get to play for one hour instead of just 30 minutes, and are taught something every day about a particular sportsperson, maybe show about them on the screen, about the game, what they train, it could be a cricket, badminton, it could be any sport, if you teach them how you teach them a particular subject, they will learn faster,” Saina added.
Reflecting on her own journey, she said: “I observed and learnt smash from my parents, and I had never played badminton before that… So, imagine how much you can learn just by observing.”
Gender change is something very new: Saina
Addressing the debate around gender transition in sports, she said: “In sports, if a man plays even after changing gender, he may still be physically strong. He may hit harder, jump better, and be faster. You need to understand that from childhood what kind of gender is given to that person, and that is how you are actually divided, like men’s singles and women’s singles.”
“It’s a very difficult question to answer, till the time it doesn’t come up in my particular sport, I would not be able to give a correct answer for this. Because physical ability is different, gender change is something very new that I have heard of in sports,” Saina added.
