Saina Nehwal Officially Retires, Says Body No Longer Permits Her To Compete: 'My Time Is Up'

Last Updated:January 20, 2026, 07:31 IST

Saina Nehwal confirms retirement from badminton because of knee problems, ending her career after a two-year absence from competition.

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to win two medals at the BWF World Junior Championships. She first won silver at the 2006 Incheon Champs, losing to Wang Yihan, 2012 London Olympics silver medallist. At the 2008 edition, she beat Japan’s Sayaka Sato to win gold. Saina went on to win bronze at the 2012 Olympics (Picture credit: AFP)

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has confirmed that she has retired from badminton, saying that her body doesn’t support the gruelling regime now, with her knee giving up, adding that she hasn’t been on the circuit for two years now and her retirement was an unannounced fact.

Nehwal has been sidelined for the past two years, with her last competitive appearance dating back to the 2023 Singapore Open.

Despite her prolonged absence from competition, Nehwal hadn’t announced her retirement from badminton.

“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. If you aren’t capable of playing anymore, that is it," Saina said while speaking on a podcast.

Nehwal said that the decision was forced by a severe degeneration of her knee, which made sustained high-intensity training impossible.

“Your cartilage has totally degenerated, you have arthritis, that is what my parents needed to know, my coaches needed to know that and I just told them, ‘Now probably I cannot do it anymore, it is difficult," Nehwal said.

She reiterated that she saw no need for a formal retirement announcement, believing her prolonged absence from competition spoke for itself.

“Slowly, people will also realise that Saina isn’t playing," Nehwal said.

The Olympic medallist said that her knees could no longer withstand even light training, lending finality to a decision she described as unavoidable.

“I didn’t think it was such a big matter to announce my retirement. I just felt my time was up because I could not push much, that my knee wasn’t able to push like before," Nehwal 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," Nehwal added.

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