5 of India’s strongest medal contenders at Rio 2016

Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal has accomplished a lot in Badminton in her career so far and needs no introduction. The shuttler, who became the first Indian badminton player to win a medal at the Olympics when she won the Bronze, has been among the world’s best consistently for about 5 years now.

Ranked 5th in the world currently, Saina is in good form and is one of the athletes India has pinned her hopes on for a medal.

She had a strong 2015, despite not winning any Super Series Premier tournament, as she was consistently in the top two in the player rankings.

2016 has seen her mount a great comeback after an initial bad start, as she has clawed her way back into the reckoning with some great performances, especially at the Australian Open and in the Uber Cup.

Nehwal became the first ever Indian woman to be ranked world number 1 in Badminton, and has been great for the country in the team tournaments as well. She will be looking to repeat her feat of the 2012 Olympics, when she won the Bronze, or go better at Rio 2016.