Saina Nehwal Quietly Retires After Knee Battle

NEW DELHI -Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal, one of India’s most decorated badminton players, has revealed that she has quietly retired from competitive sport after nearly two years away from the circuit due to a chronic knee issue.

The London 2012 bronze medalist last played a competitive match at the 2023 Singapore Open and had not officially announced her retirement until January 19, when, during a podcast, she mentioned that she left the court on her own terms and “there was no need to announce it.”

Nehwal explained that degeneration of cartilage in her knees forced her to make the difficult decision after discussions with her family and coaches. “Your cartilage has totally degenerated, you have arthritis… I just told them, ‘Now probably I can’t do it anymore, it is difficult,’” she said.

She added that her body could no longer handle the physical load required at the highest level. “You train eight to nine hours to be the best in the world. Now my knees would give out in one or two hours. It was swelling, and it became very tough to push after that. So, I thought it was enough. I can’t push it anymore,” she said.

The shuttler from Hisar gained international recognition in 2008 by winning the junior world championship and becoming the first Indian woman to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics the same year.

In 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series tournament by clinching the Indonesia Open. A year later, she won gold at the Commonwealth Games.

At London 2012, Nehwal created history as India’s first Olympic badminton medallist by winning bronze in women’s singles after her semi-final run.

In 2015, she became world No. 1 in women’s singles rankings, becoming the first Indian woman to do so and only the second Indian shuttler after Prakash Padukone. That same year, she reached the final of the BWF World Championships, finishing with a silver medal after losing to Carolina Marin. (IANS)