Dhanya Nair

Dhanya Nair (born 16 July 1984) is an Indian professional badminton player. She is currently ranked number 7 in India.

Nair was born on 16 July 1984 and was brought up in Pune, Maharashta. She finished her schooling and graduation in Commerce from Shivray Prathishtan Maharashtra College, Pune.

Nair has represented Maharashtra state in All India Badminton tournaments since 1995.

Nair’s first taste of success at the national level was in 1997, when she won the mini girls’ doubles category, at the mini national tournament in Guwahati. The following year, she won a silver medal at the school games in Patiala.

Nair dominated the 2002 season, emerging winner in the girls doubles category of ICICI Bank All India Tournament at Bangalore, the All India Junior in Thane, Sushant Chipalkatti tournament in Pune and Krishna Khaitan Memorial tournament in Chennai. She was runner-up in National Games in Hyderabad and a semi-finalist in junior nationals in Guntur. Nair won women’s doubles crown in Asian Satellite Tournament at Islamabad, Pakistan in 2004. She emerged a winner while representing Indian Railways in the World Railways Competition and repeated her performance in 2009. In the same year, she achieved a double crown, winning both the women’s singles and doubles in the Yonex Kenya International tournament at Nairobi. She was the first Indian player to achieve this feat.

In the 22nd edition of the World Championships in August 2015, Nair was a part of 18 member squad led by Saina Nehwal. In the squad, she was paired with Mohita Sahdev in the women's double category. Together they took on French players Delphine Lansac and Emilie Lefel.

Nair and Mohita Sahdev paired up in a number of tournaments in 2015, including the Thailand International Challenge, Malaysia Masters, Syed Modi International, and broke into the top 100 in the world.

National Level

• January 2011 - Senior Nationals Championships Rohtak, Runners-Up of Chada Cup
• Feb 2010 - Senior Nationals Championship Guwahati,Semifinalist
• July 2008 - All India Major Ranking Tournament Mumbai, Women Singles & Doubles,Semi-Finalist
• Feb 2009 - Senior National Championship-Indore.Women’s Doubles,Runner-up

Inter-National Level

• March 2011 - Runners-up at the Uganda International Series in doubles and quarterfinalist in the singles match
• Feb 2010 - Runners-up in singles at the Iran International Challenge
• Dec 2010 - Runners-Up in doubles at the Bahrain International Tournament .
• April 2009 - Winner in both the Women Singles & Doubles events in the Yonex Kenya International, Nairobi, Kenya.
• March 2008 - Selected to represent India at the Croatian and Portuguese International
• 2007 - 32nd Yonex Hungarian International Badminton Championship. Women’s Singles,Pre-quarter-finalists
• 2007 - Bank of Scotland Centenary International Badminton Championships, Women’s Singles,Pre-quarter-finalists
• 2005 & 2009 - Winner of World Railways
• 2007 - Winner in the All India Major Ranking Tournament at Dehradun
• 2004 - Winner in the Asian Satellite Touranment in Pakistan
• 2002 - Bronze medallist in Junior Asian Badminton Championship, Kuala Lampur