Olympic and World Championships medalist shuttler Saina Nehwal has said that she is experiencing inflammation in her knees, which has kept her out of the competitive sport.
“Three to four months ago I was playing Singapore Open. My knees and cartilage started to hurt. So, consulted a doctor and my physio is also working on it. My knees showed inflammation. I do not want to play half-hearted,” said Saina at the press conference in Gurugram at Global Race 2023 on Wednesday. She also said that she is not open to coaching in future, calling it the “toughest job”. Nehwal is missing out on Asian Games due to an injury. Notably, Saina has not been in good form in 2020s. Last year, she played 13 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour tournaments and only reached quarterfinals once in Singapore Open. She bowed out of other tournaments mostly in first round. This year as well, she has played six BWF World Tour tournaments, getting three first-round exits and three second-round exits. She is currently ranked at world number 55 in women’s singles competition. Her last BWF World Tour title win was in January 2019, when she won the Indonesia Masters. Pointing out HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu as some of the players to watch out for, Indian Olympics and World Championship medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal is optimistic about the chances of the national badminton squad at the Asian Games. The event will start from September 23 and will go on till October 8. “All are doing extremely well, they are performing well. Especially HS Prannoy is giving back-to-back good results. Let’s see, there are some tough challenges around them but I feel HS Prannoy is good and of course, PV Sindhu has always done well at the highest tournaments,” said Nehwal to the media at the Global Race 2023 event in Delhi. Talking about the ups and downs in her and PV Sindhu’s fitness and form, Nehwal said that it is not easy to play at the highest level for so long. “We are playing at the highest level for a long. It is not easy to do so. It takes a toll on body. Badminton is one of the toughest sports in the world physically, you have to stay fit 100 per cent to play 17-20 tournaments per year. I would say me and Sindhu are gifted as players,” she added. Sindhu has played 14 BWF World Tour tournaments this year. In these, she has reached final once, semi-finals and quarterfinals twice each. The rest have been disappointing first or second round exits. She has slipped to 14th spot in BWF World Rankings. She last won Singapore Open last year.
