‘I can’t push it anymore’: Legendary India shuttler Saina Nehwal confirms retirement

Saina maintained throughout her career that she will leave the sport on her own terms and that it is never going to be a big thing. She said that the decision was forced by the severe degeneration of her knee.

“My cartilage has totally degenerated, I have arthritis. I think that’s what my parents needed to know and my coaches needed to know and I just told them. Now probably I can’t do it anymore,” she said.

Saina reiterated that she did not see the need for a formal retirement announcement, believing her absence from competition would make the situation clear.

“Slowly people will also realise that Saina is not playing,” she said.

Saina further explained that her knees were unable to take the grueling training sessions and it became so bad she was unable to endure even limited training sessions. The situation made it unavoidable for her.

“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.

A glorious career

Saina Nehwal was the first bonafide badminton superstar India produced in the 21st century.

A child prodigy, she won gold medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

Four years later at the age of 22, Saina created history by becoming the first-ever Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal after winning the bronze medal in the women’s singles event.

She also won two medals at the World Championships: silver in 2015 and bronze in 2017 edition. At 2018 Asian Games, she won a bronze medal in women’s singles.

After 2016, persistent injuries hampered Saina’s career. Though she made a strong comeback to win a World Championships bronze in 2017 and the Commonwealth Games gold in 2018, recurring knee issues continued to disrupt her progress.

In 2024, she revealed that she has arthritis in her knees and that her cartilage has worn away, making it extremely difficult to train at the intensity required for top-level competition.