Saina Nehwal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Saina Nehwal

• Saina Nehwal belongs to Haryana, but her family shifted to Hyderabad when she was 5 years old.

  

• Her grandmother was not happy at her birth; as she wanted a boy.

• Her parents have also been state-level badminton champions for Haryana.

• On the advice of badminton coach Nani Prasad Rao, she started playing badminton at the age of 8. For her training, her father used to take her 50 km away to a badminton academy on a daily basis.

  

• Saina did her badminton training from the Gopichand Badminton Academy.

• In 2005, she got selected to play in the under-19 national team and became the U-19 national champion in 2006; after winning Asian Satellite Badminton tournament twice.

• Her mother often calls her “Steffi Saina;” as she has been a huge fan of tennis star “Steffi Graff.”

• She has a brown belt in Karate.

• In 2012, Sachin Tendulkar gave her BMW as a gift; after she won the gold medal in the Olympics.

  

• In the same year, Saina Nehwal released her autobiography ‘Playing to Win: My Life On and Off Court.’

  

• In October 2016, she was appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Athletes’ Commission.

• She faced injuries in the year 2016 and 2017, due to which she didn’t play in several tournaments.

• Saina has appeared on the cover of various magazines like ‘Women’s Health,’ ‘Femina,’ etc.

  

• She has also appeared as a guest on some TV shows like ‘Satyamev Jayate,’ ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil,’ and ‘The Kapil Sharma Show.’

  

• In Hisar, ‘Saina Nehwal Institute of Agricultural Technology, Training & Education’ at ‘Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University’ is named after her.

• She has endorsed numerous famous brands like Vaseline, Fortune Cooking Oil, Emami, Godrej No Marks, Edelweiss Group, Huawei Honor Smartphone, Star Sports, NECC, Indian Overseas Bank, Top Ramen Noodles, Herbalife Nutrition, Yonex,  Iodex, Sahara Group, etc.

• Saina Nehwal is a dog lover.

  

• On 29 January 2020, Saina joined the Bharatiya Janata Party; ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections in February 2020. After joining the party, she said,
  

  I draw a lot of inspiration from Narendra sir. I have won medals for the country. I am a very hardworking and I love hardworking persons. I can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi does so much for the country, I want to do something for the country with him.” 

• On 13 July 2025, she uploaded an Instagram story confirming her separation from her husband.