Cash prize for Saina Nehwal from the ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs

For the runner-up position in the recently concluded All England Open Badminton Championship 2015 held in Birmingham United Kingdom, Indian Badminton star Saina Nehwal was given cash prize worth 25 lakhs. Ministry’s Scheme of Special Awards had given this cash award to Nehwal for her performances in International Sports Events.

• Saina Nehwal becomes the 3rd Indian and first women from India to reach the finals of the prestigious tournament.
• In the finals, world champion Carolina Marin defeated Saina Nehwal.
• Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand won the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championship in 1980 and  2001 respectively.

About Saina Nehwal

• Saina Nehwal was born in Hissar,Haryana on17th March 1990.
• she is presently number 1 in the world.
• She hold the distinction being the first women to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics.
• She also holds the distinction of being the only women badminton player from India to become world number 1.
• In the Indian Badminton League or IBL, Saina plays for Hyderabad Hotshots
• Saina Nehwal is supported by the Olympic Gold Quest.
• She has a brown belt in karate.
• In 2009 she was given Arjuna award.
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the India’s highest honour, was given to her in the year 2009-10 and Padma Shri award in 2010.

Information on All England Open Badminton Championships

• It is one of the oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments.
• The tournament was first started on 4th April 1899.
• The tournament is sponsored by Yonex from 1984 .
• At the beginning, only 3 categories namely Mens Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Double’s were there, later Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles were staged.
• 2015 winner in Men’s Singles is Chen long and for Women’s Singles is Carolina Marin.
• From the year 1994 this tournament is played in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham,UK.

Details on Olympic Gold Quest

• It is a program of the Foundation Of Sports And Games.
• Founded in the year 2001 by Indian sporting icons Geet Sethi  and Prakash Padukone to identify and support Indian Athletes with proven track record and having the potential to win Olympic gold medals.
• Other sports persons this program supports are Mary Kom, PV Sindhu,Gagan Narang, Deepika Kumari etc.