‘Can’t Do It Anymore’: Saina Nehwal Confirms Retirement From Competitive Badminton

First Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal, Saina Nehwal, has confirmed her retirement after being away from the sport for the past two years. Saina had never formally announced her retirement from badminton, but she has now addressed the matter in a podcast, saying her body can no longer handle the physical demands required to play at the competitive level.

Saina Nehwal confirmed 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,” she said.

“Your cartilage has totally degenerated, you have arthritis… I just told them, ‘Now, probably I can’t do it anymore, it is difficult. 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 was enough. I can’t push it anymore,” she revealed.

The Hisar-born shuttler emerged into prominence at the international level in 2008 after becoming the junior world champion and also making it to the quarter-finals of the Beijing Olympics. She became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title one year later and went on to become a gold medalist in the Commonwealth Games 2010.

In the 2012 Games, she became the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton, securing bronze in women’s singles. In 2015, she became the first Indian woman to become the world No. 1 in singles badminton rankings. She also won the silver medal in the BWF World Championships the same year.

He has also won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Saina has also been honoured with the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award.