Ace badminton player Saina Nehwal makes political debut, joins BJP

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday sprung a surprise by joining the BJP, but made it clear that she was not hanging her sporting shoes as yet.

Saina, 29, a former world number one badminton player, was welcomed into the BJP by party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda at the BJP Headquarters here along with her sister Chandranshu.

“I will continue to pursue both,” Saina told reporters when asked about her sporting career now that she had joined politics.

Saina joins the long list of sportspersons who have joined politics, most prominent being cricketer Gautam Gambhir (BJP), boxer Vijender Singh (Congress), hockey player Dilip Tirkey (BJP), footballer Prasun Banerjee (Trinamool).

Wrestlers Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt, and former India hockey captain Sandep Singh too had joined the BJP ahead of the Haryana assembly elections last year.

Olympics silver medallist in double trap shooting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore served as the Sports Minister in the previous Modi government and is a second term Lok Sabha member from Jaipur Rural.

Saina, who won the bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics, has 24 international titles to her credit. Her entry into politics comes at a time when she is hoping to qualify for the Tokyo Games later this year.

Born in Hisar in Haryana on March 17, 1990, Saina shot into limelight after winning the under-19 national championships at the age of 16 in 2006. She has been on a winning spree since, with 2010 and 2012 being considered as her best years that brought her international laurels.

Saina is a recipient of the Arjuna Award (2009), Padma Shri (2010), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (2009-10) and Padma Bhushan (2016).

However, she has been dealing with fitness issues, particularly after a knee injury in 2015 that forced her out of the sporting circuit.

Saina hasn't won a title since the 2019 Indonesia Masters and could cross the first-round six times in the last 14 tournaments that she has played.

The gradual dip in performance saw her slip to the 18th spot in BWF ranking and a 22nd in the Olympic qualification rankings.