Racquet sports in India especially in the last 12 months, has seen an upward curve and two players who have had a major hand in this have been Saina Nehwal in badminton and Sania Mirza in tennis.
Acknowledging their stellar exploits during the course of their career, the Government of India have decided to confer both of them with the country’s third highest civilian award- The Padma Bhushan.
Both players had a superb 2015. Saina became the 1st Women’s Singles players from India to reach the final of the All England Championships, which, subsequently, led to her rising to the top of the World Rankings.
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Following that, she became the 1st Indian women to enter the final of a World Championships, where she lost to Carolina Marin of Spain.
If it was Saina who made India proud in badminton, it was Sania who did so in tennis. The 29-year-old combined brilliantly with Martina Hingis in the Women’s Doubles to be crowned World No.1 in April last year after a superb run of performances, that saw them win titles at Indian Wells, Miami and the Family Circles Cup, which eventually saw them go on top of the Women’s Doubles rankings.
It was a historical moment as no Indian prior to that had scaled to the top of Women’s Doubles rankings. She then combined with Hingis to win the 2015 Wimbledon, US Open and the season-ending WTA Finals. The duo deservingly finished the year as the number one ranked Women’s Doubles pair.
Both sportswomen have already received the country’s highest sporting honour- the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna- (Saina in 2009 and Sania in 2015) and the Padma Bhushan will add yet another feather to their cap.
Joy for Deepika Kumari
Indian archer Deepika Kumari also had a reason to celebrate after the Indian Government decided to confer her with the Padma Shri. The 21-year-old archer has had a fine career so far, having won 2 World Championships Silver medals, 2 Commonwelath Games Gold medals, 3 World Cup Silvers and an Asian Games Bronze.
She will certainly be looking to add an Olympic medal to her already illustrious medals list at Rio later this year.
