Saina Nehwal is standing atop badminton's Mount Everest as world no 1 women's player, taking great gulps of oxygen. She summitted when Carolina Marin of Spain lost her India Open semifinal at the Siri Fort over the weekend.

Saina has become a sporting immortal, going where no Indian woman has gone before. Naturally, the twenty-something player simply said, when she reached No 1, "Oh my god."