Anu Nieminen

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

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. In the 2004 Olympics, she was defeated by Kaori Mori of Japan in the Round of 32. 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. 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. In 2013, she joined the Lillerød Badminton in Denmark as a coach for the young players.

Personal life Anu Weckström began dating professional tennis player Jarkko Nieminen in the summer of 2003, and got engaged in December of that same year. The couple married in June 2005 at the Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki.

Achievements

BWF International Challenge/Series 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