Anu Nieminen

Anu Kristiina Nieminen (born 16 December 1977; née Weckström) is a Finnish badminton player. Born in Helsinki, Nieminen has joined the national team in 1994.[1] She is one of the best badminton players in Finland, having won twelve times National Championships,[2] and competed at the Summer Olympics in four consecutive times.[3]

Anu Nieminen
Personal information
Birth nameAnu Kristiina Weckström
CountryFinland
Born (1977-12-16) 16 December 1977
Helsinki, Finland
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight61 kg (134 lb)
HandednessRight
Women's singles
Highest ranking37 (21 January 2010)
BWF profile

Nieminen first represented Finland at the Olympic level at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She reached the second round before losing to Kanako Yonekura of Japan.[4] In 2004 Olympics, she defeated in the round of 32 to Kaori Mori of Japan.[5] In 2006, she signed with the Finnish cosmetics company Lumene, along with her husband, professional tennis player Jarkko Nieminen.

Nieminen competed at the 2008 Olympics, she again reached the second round, this time losing to Huaiwen Xu of Germany.[6] In 2012 Olympics, she won her first match against Victoria Montero of Mexico, but lose a match to Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, she did not advance beyond the group stages.[7] In 2013, she has joined the Lillerød Badminton in Denmark as a coach for the young players.[8]

Achievements

BWF International Challenge/Series

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2011 Slovak Open Netherlands Patty Stolzenbach 21–14, 19–21, 21–16 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2008 Austrian International China Zhang Xi 21–19, 13–21, 9–21 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2005 Italian International Denmark Tine Rasmussen 4–11, 5–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2003 Dominican Republic International Japan Miyo Akao 5–11, 11–7, 11–13 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2002 Slovenian International Bulgaria Petya Nedelcheva 11–6, 1–11, 9–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2002 Finnish International Bulgaria Petya Nedelcheva 7–1, 7–4, 7–0 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2001 Irish International Canada Kara Solmundson 3–7, 7–1, 2–7, 5–7 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2001 Norwegian International France Tatiana Vattier 7–0, 7–1, 7–4 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2001 Portugal International France Pi Hongyan 8–11, 1–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2000 Scottish International Denmark Christina Sørensen 11–4, 3–11, 11–4 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2000 Norwegian International Sweden Katja Wengberg 11–7, 11–6 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2000 Croatian International Czech Republic Markéta Koudelková 11–6, 11–4 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
2000 Dutch International Netherlands Lonneke Janssen 3–11, 3–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
2000 Cuba International Japan Takako Ida 2–11, 4–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1999 Irish International Japan Miho Tanaka 9–11, 5–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1999 Guatemala International Canada Denyse Julien 6–11, 10–13 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1999 Argentina International Canada Kara Solmundson 6–11, 6–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1999 Brazil International Canada Kara Solmundson 13–10, 11–9 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
1999 Bulgarian International Ukraine Elena Nozdran 6–11, 8–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1998 Scottish International Sweden Margit Borg 5–11, 3–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up
1998 Austrian International Netherlands Carolien Glebbeek 3–11, 12–9, 8–11 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2000 Norwegian International Finland Nina Weckström Sweden Caroline Eriksson
Sweden Johanna Persson		 10–15, 15–10, 15–7 1st place, gold medalist(s) Winner
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament

References
  1. "Players: Anu Nieminen". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. "SM-sulkapalloa 1980-1990-luvuilla" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  3. "Anu Weckström". International Olympic Committee. 2016-06-22. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. "Sydney 2000" (in Finnish). Suomen Sulkapalloliitto. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. "Badminton women's singles results". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. "Vanhasen kannustus ei auttanut Anu Niemistä" (in Finnish). Iltalehti. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. "Lontoo 2012" (in Finnish). Suomen Sulkapalloliitto. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. "Anu Nieminen til Lillerød som cheftræner for ungdom" (in Danish). BadmintonBladet.dk. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
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