India’s iconic shuttler Saina Nehwal has confirmed her retirement from competitive badminton, saying that she can’t push it anymore. The 2012 Olympics bronze medallist, Nehwal, has not played any official match since the 2023 Singapore Open and has been out of action due to a chronic knee condition.
“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 stated that the degrading knee condition has forced her to announce her retirement. “Your cartilage 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.
The former World No.1 stated that she did not feel the need to announce her retirement as her absence would mean the same for her fans.
“Slowly, people will also realise that Saina is not playing,” she said.
The Olympic medallist said her knees could no longer withstand even light training, making the decision—one she called unavoidable—final.
“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.
Saina’s career was deeply affected by a career-threatening knee injury she suffered at the Rio 2016 Olympics. While she mounted an impressive comeback – winning bronze at the 2017 World Championships and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games – persistent knee problems continued to hinder her progress.
In 2024, she disclosed that she had developed arthritis in her knees and that significant cartilage wear had left her unable to train at the intensity demanded by elite competition.
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