Why did Saina Nehwal retire? A look back at the iconic career of India’s badminton queen

Former World No. 1 shuttler and Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal announced her retirement from competitive badminton earlier today due to a degenerative knee cartilage problem. Her retirement marks the end of an era of Indian badminton. Known as the Great Wall against China for fighting in the Chinese-dominated badminton era, Saina has single-handedly created buzz and reshaped the sport in the country.

Saina was the first Indian to win an Olympic medal in badminton and reach the Women’s Singles world No. 1 rank. When she burst on to the international circuit in the mid-2000s, badminton in India was still largely confined to a few academies and occasional television coverage. Saina changed that narrative. Her fearless game, inspiring stamina, power and relentless baseline rallies, made Indians believe that the sport could stand shoulder to shoulder with cricket on the global stage.

Her bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics was a great moment for Indian sports. Suddenly, young athletes across the country saw badminton as a career. Sponsorships followed, academies multiplied and a pipeline of players emerged — many of whom would later cite Saina as the reason they picked up a racquet.

Pullela Gopichand, her long-time mentor, played a crucial role in her growth. Though the duo later had a somewhat troubled relationship, they together created an important lesson about the importance of imagination and persistence. When Gopichand declared his vision to create Olympic medallists, it was never taken seriously by the governments or people. It was Saina who transformed his vision into reality with her bronze medal. She was later joined by P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Kashyap Parupalli, Lakshya Sen and other champions.

Her achievement of becoming world No. 1 in 2015 remains one of Indian sport’s most defining milestones, especially in a discipline dominated for decades by Chinese, East Asian and European powerhouses. In 2015, she could stay in that for 14 weeks in total, presenting a surreal experience to Indian sports lovers.

Badminton is one of the toughest games and Saina’s career shows just that. Despite her continuous victories, knee problems, surgeries and long rehabilitation phases repeatedly forced her to restart. Yet she returned each time, refusing to fade quietly. In recent years, injuries, age and marital responsibilities gradually caught up with her.

In competitive badminton, she last participated in the Singapore Open in 2023 and has not been playing since then. Chronic knee degeneration kept her away from competitive badminton, and on January 20, she confirmed what many already sensed — that her body could no longer cope with elite sport.

Saina was born in Hissar, Haryana, on March 17, 1990, to Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Rani Nehwal. She won several prestigious awards and titles, including the Most Promising Player of the Year award (2008) by the Badminton World Federation, Arjuna Award (2009), Padma Shri (2010), Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2009–2010) and Padma Bhushan (2016).