Saina Nehwal shines bright for Indian badminton once again

With the Olympics approaching, the Hyderabadi stepped up her performance and clinched the Thailand Open by defeating local talent Ratchanok in June.

A week later, she annexed her third Indonesia Super Series title when she beat Li Xuerui of China.

With Saina in red hot form, the expectations skyrocketed and she didn't disappoint as she continued her rampaging run and won a bronze in the London Games after her rival, China's Wang Xin, retired from the match after an injury.

After a break, Saina won another title when she clinched the Denmark Open Super Series Premier crown in October after defeating Wang Yihan in the semifinal and Germany's Juliane Schenk in the final.

Yihan ended retired hurt in this match after losing the first game and trailing in the second. Saina's performance soon saw her regain the third spot in world ranking.

But a knee injury suffered in Indonesia, spoilt Saina's performance in the second half of the year as she lost to Japan's Minatsu Mitani in the summit clash to see the French Open title slip away. Saina then exited early from the Hong Kong Super Series, a title she had clinched in 2010.

The 22-year-old Indian also bowed out of the BWF Super Series Final after suffering losses to Thailand's Denmark's Tine Baun, Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and world number one Li Xuerui of China.

The year became more

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