Olympic Bronze Medalist Saina Nehwal joins BJP

Hyderabad: India's original badminton queen, Saina Nehwal, who inspired a generation of girls into the sport, on Wednesday commenced new innings, a political one at that.

The former World Number One joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of the party’s National General Secretary, Arun Singh.

The badminton star, whose career has been through several ups and downs since winning the 2012 Olympic bronze in London was knocked out in the first round of the Indonesia Masters and withdrew from the ongoing PBL on health grounds.

By joining the political bandwagon, she will be in the league of equally illustrious sportspersons, who have embraced politics. The list includes several champion performers, including cricketers, hockey players and fellow-Olympians, Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Phogat, Vijender Singh.

The 29-year-old Saina was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiative of #BharatKiLaxmi that celebrates womanhood.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee took to Twitter and said - "I thank @narendramodi for his initiative to honour and empower women this Diwali. Acknowledgement motivates us to work harder and make India proud. #BharatkiLaxmi".

I thank @narendramodi for his initiative to honour and empower women this Diwali. Acknowledgement motivates us to work harder and make India proud. #bharatkilaxmi. https://t.co/B3a4goqztE

— Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) October 26, 2019

Being a Haryanvi, settled in Hyderabad and married to shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, Saina Nehwal is likely make her debut on a new turf when she campaigns for the party in the Delhi Assembly elections, which are slated for February 8.