Saina Nehwal is the youngest Indian to win the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. And there are enough reasons for her to become so. The 20-year won three back-to-back titles ` Indian Grand Prix, Singapore Super Series and Indonesian Open. Riding on her performance, Saina became the World No. 2 badminton player. In 2006, Saina became the first Indian woman to win the Philippines Open. In 2008, she became the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Same year in the Beijing Olympics, she became the first Indian woman to advance to the quarter-finals. In September 2008, she won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open. In 2009, she won the BWF Super Series title. Last year, she was awarded with the Arjun Award and earlier this year she was bestowed with the Padma Shri award and that was followed by the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. She is one of the most sought after female sporting stars in India but when Saina Nehwal was born in patriarchal community, her own grandmother refused to look at her because of the inherent discrimination against the girl child in the state. "I was really surprised when I was told that my grandmother did not come to see me till a month after my birth. I was born seven years after my only sister Chandranshu and my birth was a big disappointment for her," the ace shuttler, fresh from a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, wrote in a column for the 'India Today' magazine. "But in it there is a message that I understand very well now about the discrimination against the girl child," she said. 
Saina still counts her blessings for having parents who were liberal enough to allow her pursue sports. "My mother Usha Rani had represented Haryana in badminton and she was consistent in her encouragement. That helped me build my career successfully and at just 14; I had a sponsor in Bharat Petroleum and Deccan Chronicle now. We live in an apartment bought with my prize money and my parents have taken care that it is in my name," she revealed. As a person, Saina is very optimistic, she often even criticizes her own game pointing out her own errors made during a game. On court she is aggressive and gets her opponent cracking quickly giving them little time to think. That in addition to her wining performances at the Beijing Olympics and the Grand Prix. She is not at all snobbish and open to learning and herself admits her lack of experience in winning some games. She is a compact player who understands her strengths and weaknesses on and off the court. She is undeterred by challenges and takes them head on, playing her best to disarm the opponent completely. Please click here to watch an inspiring interview of Saina Nehwal. http://www.youtube.com/watch`v=wi18bcn5hE8