Saina Nehwal reveals arthritis battle, to decide on retirement by end of the year

Saina was the first Indian shuttler to win at the Olympics, when she won the bronze medal in women’s singles at London in 2012.

New Delhi: Ace India women’s badminton player Saina Nehwal has revealed that she is battling with arthritis and added that she will decide on her playing career by the end of this year, citing the ailment making it very difficult for her to train as per usual schedule.

Saina was the first Indian shuttler to win at the Olympics, when she won the bronze medal in women’s singles at London in 2012. She was also ranked number one in the world and won the gold medal in 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and Gold Coast respectively.

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“The knee is not very good. I have arthritis. My cartilage has gone to a bad state. It is very difficult to push for 8-9 hours. How will you challenge the best players in the world in such a state?

“I think I will have to accept it somewhere. Because 2 hours of training is not good enough to play with the highest level of players and get the desired results,” Saina said in an episode of ‘House of Glory’ podcast, launched by shooting legend Gagan Narang, who was India’s Chef de Mission at 2024 Paris Olympics.

Further talking about her thoughts on retirement, Sania remarked, “I am also thinking about it. It will be sad because it is like a job that a normal person does. Obviously, a sports person’s career is always a short one. I started at the age of 9. I will be 35 next year.

“So, I have also had a long career. And I am very proud of that. I have broken my body to a great extent. I am happy with what I have done and given it all. Will assess how I feel by the end of this year,” she added.

In all, Saina competed across three editions of Olympics (2008, 2012, and 2016) for India. “Competing at the Olympics is a childhood dream for all. You prepare to reach that level for years. Hence, at times, when you realise you will not be able to make it, it hurts a lot.”

“Because it is not like you do not want to play, but your body is telling that you are not doing well and you have injuries. But I have done a lot of hard work. I competed in three Olympics. I gave my 100% in all of them. I can take pride in that and be happy about it,” she added.

Saina further opened up on the challenging phase of her career in mid-2010s when she struggled to get wins consistently, and made the tough call of leaving Gopichand Academy for training in Bengaluru from September 2014.

“From November 2012 to August 2014, I could not get results. I was upset about not getting performances for almost two years. It had never happened before and was unable to find solutions. My ranking dropped to 9th or 10th.”

“I thought I needed to do something different. I had never gone out of the house to train. It was such a big decision to move out. I also felt emotional. But I had to make the decision. It was a question of my career,” she recalled.

With training in a new environment, results started taking a turn for good for Saina, and by March 2015, she was back to being world number one. Saina signed off by saying athletes do not have the luxury of taking a long break in their quest to be a world champion.

“When you become a big player, your friends, family, coaches, sponsors, everyone wants you to perform. There are a lot of stakeholders involved. With already a short career span, athletes cannot afford to take a four-year break and have to keep performing continuously. If you wish to become an international Champion. You have to be strong to make tough decisions.”