Former World No. 1 Saina Nehwal has called time on her Badminton career after announcing her retirement on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. The icon revealed that the decision has been taken into consideration of her Knee Osteoarthritis, which is a severe degeneration of cartilage in the knees. It has been two years since Nehwal last played a competitive Badminton match, suffering from a knee condition. The condition has left her unable to continue to play anymore.
An Olympic medallist and one of the greatest female Indian badminton players, Nehwal made her last appearance in the 2023 Singapore Open. She lost her match against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon in the Round of 32.
On Monday, Nehwal formally announced her retirement decision during a podcast interview with host Subhojit Ghosh. She revealed that the decision was taken only after undergoing a thorough discussion with her parents and coaches.
Nehwal said, “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. Your cartilage has totally degenerated, you have arthritis… I just told them, ‘Now probably I can’t do it anymore, it is difficult’.”
It was at the 2016 Rio Olympics when Nehwal underwent a career-threatening knee injury. Bounded by the knee ailment, Nehwal was no longer capable of training any further or pushing herself to compete in high-level matches, which forced her to take a step back.
“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.
Nehwal’s retirement is the end of an era
Despite the knee injury sustained in 2016, Nehwal made a strong comeback in the 2017 World Championships, where she won a medal, followed by a gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The injury, however, forced her to stop playing altogether, which saw her final appearance in the Singapore Open 2023. The following year, Nehwal opened up about having arthritis in her knees and revealed that her cartilage had worn away. Since then, she has not yet participated in any badminton matches.
Dating back to 2009, Nehwal became the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title by clinching the Indonesia Open, followed by her victory in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In the 2012 London Games, she won bronze in the women’s singles event, and that win made her India’s first badminton player to win an Olympic medal. Later in 2015, Nehwal created history by reaching the world No. 1 ranking in the singles category.
Nehwal has an impressive national achievement lineup, including the Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award. Recognizing her notable badminton career, a biopic was released in 2021 titled ‘Sania’.
