Recovering Saina Nehwal skips India Open
NEW DELHI: After being forced to withdraw from the Swiss Open last week due to a gastroenteritis problem, Saina Nehwal on Wednesday pulled out of the India Open BWF World Tour Super 500, which begins in New Delhi on March 26.
“I had stomach pain last week and couldn’t play the Swiss Open. (I am) still recovering from it and need some time for practice,” the ace shuttler confirmed to this newspaper. She had won the India Open singles title in 2015.
The 2012 Olympic bronze-medallist has been suffering from gastroenteritis and pancreatitis since the All England Open earlier this month. She had played through pain during the event and reached the quarterfinals where she lost to top seed Tai Tzu Ying in straight sets. The 15-21, 19-21 defeat was her 13th straight loss against the World No 1 from Chinese Taipei.
Saina had shared the news of her illness via her social media account last week, saying she was advised hospitalisation. “So some sad news. (I) was really going through acute stomach pain from last Monday... managed to play few matches in All England with lot of pain ... decided to skip Swiss open and come back to India and find out the issue,” she had tweeted.
“And I found out it’s acute gastroenteritis with mild pancreatitis and the doctors have recommended me to get admitted and hopefully I recover soon out of it.”
The player from Hyderabad has informed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) of her decision to withdraw from the $350,000 tournament on medical grounds. Following her withdrawal, Olympic silver medallist and former champion PV Sindhu will be India’s only contender in women’s singles.
Saina has had a decent start to 2019. After losing in the semifinals of the Malaysia Masters, she won the title at the Indonesia Masters, where an injured Carolina Marin pulled out of the final. Before the All England Open, she had beaten Sindhu in the national championship final.