New Delhi: India’s badminton star and Olympic bronze medalist, Saina Nehwal, has confirmed her retirement from the sport after battling chronic knee injuries. The 35-year-old former world No 1 announced her decision to quit on a podcast on January 19 stating she stopped playing two years ago due to severe arthritis and cartileage degeneration that prevented her from intense training.
Stressing that she is leaving the sport on her own terms, Saina said: “I had stopped playing two years back… If you are not capable of playing anymore, that’s it. It’s fine.”
She played her last professional match at the 2023 Singapore Open, after which injuries sidelined her completely.
She pointed out that her
absence from tournaments would naturally end her career, adding: “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’.”
“Slowly people will also realise that Saina is not playing,” she added, as reported by TOI.
She said the decision to quit the sport stemmed from debilitating knee issues, including total cartilage loss and arthritis, first revealed publicly in 2024.
Saina pointed out that training sessions, once lasting 8-9 hours to reach world No 1 status, now caused swelling after just 1-2 hours. “My knee was giving up… I can’t push it anymore,” she said.
Saina’s pioneering journey began as a child prodigy, winning gold at the 2008 World Junior Championships. She made history by winning bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, becoming India’s first badminton Olympic medalist, followed by World Championships silver (2015) and bronze (2017), besides the Commonwealth Games gold (2018). Her retirement truly marks the end of an era.