Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal praised her badminton rival PV Sindhu, saying that she played her part in taking Indian badminton to a newer level.

During a new interview, Nehwal reflected on their decade-long competition. She believes their back-to-back wins forced both players to reach new heights. This rivalry eventually brought badminton into the national mainstream.

“We both, I think, made each other very good players,” she shared, "When I look back, I think we both were good rally players, we both could attack very hard, and we could actually pull off such difficult matches. We both had similar qualities of playing tough matches."

At the end she  admits that both had an equal impact on their sport.

"I think that era, the last 10-15 years, was very, very good because of her and me. We were winning back-to-back; people started knowing about badminton, and they began watching it like they watched cricket… I think the team matters a lot. That's why we both got very good results."

She stresses the importance of teamwork in their success, while also respecting and acknowledging the wins of her former opponent that made badminton a mainstream sport in India.

Inside the Defining Rivalry between the Indian Top Seeds

Saina Nehwal first played against Sindhu in the finals of the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold 2014 in Lucknow. Nehwal ended up winning the title with scores of 21-14 and 21-17, and three years later Sindhu ended up defeating Nehwal at the India Open Superseries 2017 with scores of 21-16 and 22-20. 

This was one of Sindhu’s biggest wins at the time as she played against one of the top contenders in the country till then.

Their rivalry reached its peak at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, when Nehwal was battling with multiple injuries with just a year leading up to the games, unsure if she’d even participate. She still ended up winning against Sindhu with 21-18, 23-21, winning the Commonwealth Gold medal for the second time.

And the last time the players faced each other was at the Senior Badminton Nationals in 2019, where Nehwal won again, in straight games. Their competition extended up to the Olympic stage too, with Nehwal winning bronze at the 2012 Olympics and Sindhu winning silver in 2016.

Both being equally talented players with different levels of experience, but the same amount of resilience, continue to be a great inspiration to aspiring players and the Indian audience, setting a standard for all the Indian players in the circuit.

Nehwal recently announced her retirement from the sport in January 2026, due to a chronic knee condition and because of arthritis that made it really hard for her to continue in elite level competitions.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi