Saina hints early retirement following knee surgery

New Delhi: Making a comeback after undergoing a knee surgery, top Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal says that she sometimes feels her badminton career could come to an end due to the injuries she has suffered.

Saina, recently made a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletics Commission, is returning to action at the China Super Series Premier starting November 15.

The 26-year-old Saina had developed a knee problem a week before she was to leave for Rio Olympics and she carried the injury through the Games before she made an early exit by losing her second match.

“It is okay, many people will think my career will end and I won’t come back. I also think somewhere deep in my heart that maybe it is the end of my career, so let’s see how it is. Maybe, you never know,” Saina was quoted as saying by www.espn.in.

She, however, said that she would continue to work hard, especially on the areas she’s weak.

“I just want to work hard, I just want to take care of my body and keep working on the areas that were weak and not think about winning or losing,” she said.

“I will be more than happy if people think I am finished, it is nice in a way, people think a lot about me, maybe now they won’t!” said Saina, the 2012 Olympics bronze medallist.

“I am going to think about the next one year, it is year by year now, I am not going to set a target for the next 5-6 years now. My mind may change in the next one, two or three years, so for me it is just about how to take care of my body and be in good shape because these injuries are quite painful. Even if I win a tournament, the happiness is not so much because of the amount of pain the injury gives.
PTI