Saina Nehwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal announced her retirement from competitive badminton, saying her body can not longer cope with the physical demands of the fast-paced sports.
Nehwal has been out of action from the last two years due to a chronic knee condition and last played at the top level at the Singapore Open in 2023.
The 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist made the announcement on a podcast.
“I had stopped playing two years back. I actually felt that I entered the sport on my own terms and left on my own terms, so there was no need to announce it,” Saina said on a podcast.
“If you are not capable of playing anymore, that’s it. It’s fine,” she added.
The former World No. 1 said her decision came amid severe generation of her knee, which made sustained high-intensity training impossible.
"Your cartiledge has totally degenerated, you have arthritis, that's what my parents needed to know that, my coaches needed to know that, and I just told them, 'Now probably I can't do it anymore, it is difficult',” she said.
Nehwal said she did not feel the need for a formal retirement announcement, adding that her absence from tournaments would make it clear.
"Slowly people will also realise that Saina is not playing," she said.
She further explained that her knee did not even support limited training sessions and said her decision was unavoidable.
“I didn’t think it was such a big matter to announce my retirement. I just felt my time was up because I couldn’t push much, that my knee is not able to push like before,” she said.
"You train eight to nine hours to be the best in the world, now my knee was giving up in one or two hours. It was swelling and it became very tough to push after that. So I thought it’s enough. I can’t push it anymore,” she added.
Nehwal sustained a career threatening knee injury at the 2016 Rio Olympics. However, she had made a strong comeback to win the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and clinched the gold medal for India in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Despite strong performances, recurring knee issues continued to disrupt her progress.
She revealed in 2024 that she has arthritis in her knees and that her cartilage has worn away, making it extremely difficult to train at the intensity required for top-level competition.