Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal recently said that it would be ‘tough’ for her to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024, but she will do everything to come back to her best form, and she has no plans of quitting badminton.

The 33-year-old badminton ace referred to her knee injuries and other health problems, which are making it difficult for her to stay fit constantly and play at the BWF World Tour events, according to a report in PTI.

When asked about her retirement, Saina says: “Woh toh sab ko karna parta hai (everyone has to retire someday)…there is no deadline. Everyone is going to stop when you feel the body is not supporting you.”

She adds: “I am trying my level best to come back. The physios are helping me, but if the inflammation doesn’t reduce, it will take little more time to recover. I don’t want to play half-heartedly. The results won’t come good.”

It is evident that she loves her game, and plans to come back and keep thoughts of retirement out of her mind for now.

What keeps her going is really inspiring. Here are a few things to learn from her.

Staying Healthy Is A Need: Health is very important. It is not for only a sportsperson but for everybody. As Saina says: “Playing is easy, but to maintain the body, to not have any niggles is what is important.”

As a sportsperson, she has to be at her best level of physical fitness, but for anybody, health is an asset that has to be treasured and maintained. It is not just a passion, but rather a need to maintain good health. One may also consider a good health insurance cover to safeguard against unwanted or unexpected emergencies to stay protected medically and financially.

Up Your Game: One cannot ignore the commitment that Saina shows to her game when she says, “It is my duty to try because I love the game and I have been playing for so many years”.

The commitment to work on what one loves doing and improving the game is something evident from her answer. So, whether one is planning for retirement or not, a constant effort to improve oneself professionally and personally is also very important.

Keep Pushing Yourself To Plan Better: She says that after playing eight quarterfinals, somewhere the mind stops thinking if she can ever cross the quarterfinal stage again.

“But I could do it after some change. It is required for a player. And why not? It is your career. After all, it is you who will sit and think what I have achieved in my career, so changes are always good if it is helping,” she says.

Another important learning here is to keep pushing yourself to be better and keep taking calculated risks. This holds for retirement planning, too.

Plan For Retirement, But Be Ready For Any Emergency: Although the role of retirement planning is important in one’s life, things do not always go as one wishes. While Saina had not thought of a deadline for retirement, the injury has given her career jolts that she may not have expected. However, in the face of injuries, she stands strong and plans to make a comeback. Unexpected situations can occur anytime and may make one lose the balance on different fronts.

So, no matter how much one plans to save for retirement, if there is no emergency fund kept aside, any jolt in life could derail one’s retirement planning. So, like Saina, prepare well. But when an emergency happens, be ready to face it and try to come out without losing much.