Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal, one of the greatest Indian badminton players to ever grace the court, has confirmed her retirement from competitive sport after being out of action for nearly two years due to a chronic knee condition.
The London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist last played a competitive badminton match at the Singapore Open in 2023, but only formally announced her retirement on Monday on a podcast hosted by Subhojit Ghosh.
“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 Nehwal, who will turn 36 in March, said.
The former world No. 1 said the decision was forced by severe degeneration of cartilage in her knees, which made sustained high-intensity training impossible.
“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, referring to discussions with her parents and coaches.
Saina added that her body could no longer cope with the demands of top-tier badminton, prompting her to step away.
“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 revealed.
Saina’s retirement ends an era in Indian badminton.
The Hisar-born shuttler rose to prominence internationally in 2008 after becoming the junior world champion and became the first Indian woman to make the quarter-finals in singles badminton at the Olympics (Beijing 2008).
In 2009, she became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title by clinching the Indonesia Open and a year later, she became a Commonwealth Games champion.
At London 2012, Saina became India’s first Olympic medallist in badminton, winning bronze in women’s singles after reaching the semi-finals.
In 2015, she created more history by becoming the world No. 1 in singles badminton rankings, establishing herself as the first Indian woman to achieve the feat and only the second shuttler from the country after Prakash Padukone to reach the peak.
She also became the first shuttler from the country to reach the final of the BWF World Championships the same year but settled for a silver after losing to Carolina Marin.
Her career, however, was repeatedly disrupted by knee injuries, most notably after the Rio 2016 Olympics. Despite the setbacks, Saina returned to win a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
In 2024, she revealed that arthritis and complete cartilage wear in her knees.
Saina has also won every major national award possible, including the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award. She also had a biopic made on her life titled ‘Saina’, which was released in 2021.