Saina Nehwal, a former World No. 1 player, announced her retirement from badminton during an interview with podcaster Subhojit Ghosh. Nehwal, who turns 36 this month, has not played for the last two years due to a chronic knee condition. “You train eight to nine hours to be the best in the world,” she said. “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.”
During her career, she achieved several milestones for India, including becoming the first Indian to win a BWF Super Series title, the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton, and the first Indian woman to become world No. 1 in singles badminton rankings. She has received India’s top two sporting honors, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award, as well as the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award.