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

Anu Nieminen
Personal information
Birth nameAnu Kristiina Weckström
CountryFinland
Born (1977-12-16) 16 December 1977 (age 46)
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 was defeated by Kaori Mori of Japan in the Round of 32.[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 the 2012 Olympics, she won her first match against Victoria Montero of Mexico, but after losing to Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei, she did not advance beyond the group stages.[7] In 2013, she joined the Lillerød Badminton in Denmark as a coach for the young players.[8]

Achievements edit

BWF International Challenge/Series edit

Women's singles

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

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2000 Norwegian International   Nina Weckström   Caroline Eriksson
  Johanna Persson
10–15, 15–10, 15–7   Winner
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament

References edit

  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.

External links edit