29 August,2018 08:00 AM IST | | mid-day online correspondent
Saina Nehwal
India shuttler Saina Nehwal tweeted the picture of her wearing a ring gifted to her by her dad Dr Harvir Singh for winning the historic first bronze medal at Asian Games after she lost to Tai Tzu Ying 17-21, 14-21 in the semis in Jakarta. "Special gift from papa to me after winning my Asian games bronze medal in Jakarta... #indonesia ... Thank u @NHarvir," she wrote
Saina Nehwal, the second daughter of Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal, was born in Hisar. She has only one sibling, an elder sister named Chandranshu Nehwal. Her father, who has a PhD in agricultural science, worked at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University. She completed her first few years of schooling at Campus School CCS HAU, Hisar. She did her Xll from St. Ann's College for Women at Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad.
When her father was promoted and transferred from Haryana to Hyderabad, she took up badminton age eight to express herself as she did not know the local language to socialise with other kids. Her parents played badminton for a number of years. Her mother, Usha Rani, was a state level badminton player in Haryana. Nehwal took up badminton to fulfill her mother's dream of becoming a national level badminton player, while her sister played volleyball. Her father, who was among the top players in the university circuit, used his provident fund to invest in good badminton training for her. Nehwal also has a brown belt in karate.
She and her family still speak the Haryanvi language at home. She is a fan of Shahrukh Khan and Mahesh Babu. She is in the process of opening a badminton academy in her native state of Haryana
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