Saina Nehwal - Loses at Beijing Olympics 2008( BUt we are so proud of her )

source : http://www.ndtv.com/olympics/storypage.aspx?storyid=SPOEN20080061295

Indian challenge in the Olympics' badminton competition ended on Wednesday after Saina Nehwal bowed out of the women's singles event following a quarterfinal loss to Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti in Beijing. The 18-year-old Indian, on her maiden Olympic trip, went down 28-26 14-21 15-21 in the thrilling contest against her world number 16 rival. In a nail-biting opening game, Saina frittered away a game point before getting her act together to go one up. However, unfazed by the initial setback Yulianti equalised in the next game, helped to a large extent by Saina's mistakes. The decider looked like going Saina's way as she led 11-5 at one point but nerves got the better of the world number 15 Indian in the closing stages as Yulianti equalised before racing away with the game and the match. In the men's competition, Anup Sridhar has already made his exit, losing in the round of 16 of the men's singles event.

Source : Wikipedia

Saina Nehwal (b. 17 March 1990)[3] is an Indian woman badminton player. She won the 2006 Philippines Open, to become the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event[4]. She is currently coached by Pullela Gopichand's Academy in Hyderabad. Previously she was coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner. Her play is dominated by power. Both her parents were former state champions in Haryana.[5] She has been the runner-up twice in the National women's single event, losing both times to Aparna Popat in the final. She holds the Under-19 women's single title.She has won twice the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament(India Chapter). Nobody did it in the past in India in women section.[citation needed] In the 2006 World Junior badminton tournament when Saina lost to top seed Chinese Wang Yihan 13-21, 9-21 said, "She is a better player than I am. She recently beat seniors world number one Xie Xing Fang. But she is beatable. I can beat her." [6]
She was signed on by the Champions Trust of London-based steel baron Lakshmi Mittal that wants to help her become an international champion.
Saina's current Coach is Pullela Gopichand, India's former Badminton Player.

Career highlights

[edit] Pre-2006
Saina won Czechoslovakia Junior open tournament in 2003
Saina won silver medal in 2nd Youth commonwealth games team held in Bedigo Australia 2004
Pre quarterfinalist in Junior world cup held in Canada 2004
Saina won Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament (India Chapter)

[edit] 2006
Commonwealth Games Medal Record
Badminton
Bronze
2006 Melbourne
Mixed Team
World Junior Badminton Championships : Finalist
Commonwealth Games: Bronze medal in the Mixed Team Event - defeated higher ranked Tracey Hallam in the semi-finals.
Philippines Open: Won the event, defeating Julia Xian Pei Wong of Malaysia and several higher ranked players including the top seed (She was unseeded and ranked 86 at the beginning of the tourney)
Indian International Satellite Badminton Championship: Winner

[edit] 2007
Saina won the Indian National Championships in January 2007 at Patna. Saina Nehwal is 33rd National Games Gold Medalist held at Guwahati in March 2007.

[edit] Beijing 2008
Saina is having a great run in Beijing Olympics and is a great medal prospect for a nation of 1 Billion. Saina has defeated world number five and fourth seed Chen Wang of Hong Kong in a three set thriller 21-19, 11-21 and 21-11. Saina overcame her higher seed opponent Chen Wan someone whom she could not beat in her last two attempts. Saina Nehwal has thus entered the quarters of the women's singles event at the Beijing Olympics.
In the quarter-finals, Saina played against Maria Kristin Yulianti, the world number 16 and member of Indonesia’s Uber Cup runners-up team. The match was tied at 1-1 each after the first game. Saina won the first game 28-26, but Yulianti came back with strong performance of 21-14 in the 2nd game. Saina initially had a very formidable 11-4 lead in the decider, the 3rd game. But, Saina lost with 21-15 to Yilianti. At one stretch of that 3rd game, she won only 1 point compared to 15 by her opponent; that cost her the game, match and the 2008 Olympic medal dreams!