It is the end of an era as India’s ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has announced her retirement from competitive badminton due to a chronic knee condition. She played her last match in June 2023 at the Singapore Open.

A trailblazer in badminton, 35-year-old Saina leaves with numerous achievements, having inspired Indian youngsters to take up the sport. Sain was the first Indian to win a badminton medal at the Olympics, having bagged a bronze in London in 2012.

Also read: Saina confirms retirement

“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,” Saina said on a podcast.

“If you are not capable of playing anymore, that’s it. It’s fine.” The former world No. 1 said 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’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’,” she said.

Here are Saina’s major achievements in badminton

Bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. Saina is the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal

Saina has won 2 World Championships medals (Silver in 2015, Jakarta; Bronze in 2017, Glasgow)

Saina is the first and only Indian to win the World Junior Championships gold, which she did it in 2008

Saina has won over 24 international titles, including the prestigious BWF Superseries trophies (11)

At the Commonwealth Games, Saina has won two singles gold (2010, 2018) and a mixed team Gold (2018) besides a bronze (2006) and silver (2010) in mixed team

Saina has featured in three Olympics – 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro

Saina achieved the world no. 1 ranking in women’s singles in 2015. She is the first Indian woman to top the world ranking

Saina has won 457 matches (women’s singles 446, women’s doubles 9 and mixed doubles 2) in her professional career

Total prize money won by Saina – $862,136

Saina won two bronze medals in women’s singles at the Asian Games (2016, 2018) and a team bronze in 2014

Saina’s major awards

BWF Most Promising Player of the Year 2008

Padma Shri Award 2010

Arjuna Award 2009

Rajiv Khel Ratna Award 2010