New Delhi: Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.
On the professional front, Saina was last seen playing in the Thailand Masters tournament, where her performance remained less than impressive as she was knocked in the very first round.
In 2015, the 29-year-old became the first Indian woman shuttler to achieve the World No. 1 ranking. She is currently ranked ninth.
Delhi: Badminton Player Saina Nehwal joins BJP in the presence of Party’s National General Secretary Arun Singh pic.twitter.com/uXPSJmDVcn
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2020
Saina Nehwal’s sister Chandranshu also joined BJP https://t.co/UwmOe8Hify pic.twitter.com/29BDF4G2QW
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2020
Talking to ANI, she said, “The way Prime Minister works day & night, I like it very much. I like doing something for the country & BJP is a party that is doing good work for the country, I am happy to have joined the party.”
#WATCH Badminton Player Saina Nehwal on joining BJP: The way Prime Minister works day & night, I like it very much. I like doing something for the country & BJP is a party that is doing good work for the country, I am happy to have joined the party. pic.twitter.com/q8oHcemoLh
— ANI (@ANI) January 29, 2020
On January 22 she was knocked out of Thailand Masters after losing to Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt 21-13, 17-21, 21-15. World number 18 Saina had a 4-0 head-to-head record against the number 29 Dane before the match.
Last year, a number of sportspersons including cricketer Gautam Gambhir and Commonwealth Games medal-winning wrestler Babita Phogat had joined BJP.