Injury-ravaged Saina Nehwal rules out retirement: 'Trying my level best to come back'

Aware that qualifying for the Paris Olympics will be tough injuryravaged Saina Nehwal revealed she has no plans to quit badminton and would do everything under the sun to resurrect her careerLaid low by a spate of injuries including a recurring knee issue and other health problems the 33yearold from Hyderabad has found it tough to stay fit to consistently turn up at the BWF World Tour events Her ranking has plummeted to number 55 in the worldI get inflammation in my knee whenever I train for an hour or two I am not able to bend my knee so a second session of training is not possible The doctors have given me a couple of injection Of course the Olympics is near and it is tough to qualify Saina told reportersBut I am trying my level best to comeback The physios are helping me but if the inflammation doesnt reduce it will take little more time to recover I also dont want to play halfheartedly and results will also not comeAlso Read When Saina Nehwal didnrsquot know who Prakash Padukone wasThe former World Number 1 last played at the Singapore Open in June this yearIt was her sixth tournament of the season She managed just one quarterfinal finish in 14 events in 2022 while a semifinal finish at Orleans Masters was her best performance in 8 events in 2021If you are thinking about the knee showing inflammation after a training then in tournament also if it shows up after one round then it will be a negative sign I am trying to sort out that first Playing is easy to maintain the body to not have any niggles is what is important Hopefully with the guidance of physios and Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala lets see how I recover and comeback It all depends on practiceThe twotime world championships medallist Saina last won a title in January 2019 at the Malaysia Masters While knee has been a recurring issue she also had problems with groin and ankle besides being diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis with mild pancreatitis in the pastAsked about retirement Saina said Woh toh sab ko karna parta hai everyone has to retire somedaythere is no deadline Everyone is going to stop when you feel the body is not supporting you But at the moment I am trying As a sports person it is my duty to try because I love the game and I have been playing for so many years But if it doesnt happen then it means how much I have triedI have done everything I mean I shouldnt have any regret My target is not to play Asian Games or Olympics because I have achieved a lot in those tournament and of course it could have been better if I would have been able to play but lets see how it goes she addedSaina reckoned that world championships bronze medallist HS Prannoy has a chance to return with a medal from Hangzhou ChinaAll are doing well especially Prannoy is giving backtoback good results Lets see there are some tough challenges But I feel Prannoy is good and Sindhu has always done well in big tournaments she saidThe London Olympics bronze medallist feels the young brigade in womens singles is lacking the allround game required to succeed at world stageBadminton is one of the toughest sports in the world physically You need to be 100 per cent fit throughout the year to play 17 to 20 tournaments in a year Sindhu and me were gifted we were natural retrievers on the court and we had an attacking game as well But other players as far as I am watching the matches they lack a few things It is not easy to play at the highest level unless you have an allround game We are lacking somewhere here and thereWith agency inputs