Mumbai: Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal is already undergoing treatment for her knee injury which ended her campaign at the Rio Olympics 2016 following a premature exit. Saina has been admitted at a hospital in Hyderabad.
Saina, who had gone to the tournament as World No.5 lost against World No.61 Maria Ulitina of Ukraine in straight sets to make an early exit from Rio. The result was unexpected but the ace shuttler was clearly struggling and was not looking herself during the match.
“Saina has been hospitalised for the last two days and is undergoing treatment for her injury, which got worse during her match against Maria at Rio Olympics,” Saina’s father Harvir Singh was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Saina had cited an inflammation in her right knee, which was the reason for the discomfort and also hampered her on –court movement which lead to her shocking exit in the group stage. Singh said Saina was back home on August 16 and next day got admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad and underwent treatment for her injury. He, however, did not divulge the contents of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan.
“The doctors have not revealed the contents of the MRI scan to me. I will be able to talk about it tomorrow, not today,” Singh said. Singh also said Saina will be flying to Mumbai for advanced checkup tomorrow.
Saina was definitely a medal contender for India after winning bronze at the London games in 2012. This forced break could help Saina in getting much deserved rest and also returning stronger for the upcoming events in future.
“The doctors here have referred her case to a hospital at Mumbai, and she will be flying from Hyderabad,” he said. The World No 5 lost her second group league encounter 18-21, 19-21 to World No 61 Ulitina to crash out of the competition. Saina had said the injury happened during training before the Olympics and it got worse during the match.
Indian badminton players in general have done well at the Olympics. PV Sindhu defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-10 in the semi-finals and is guaranteed a medal. Kidambi Srikanth also gave tough fight to China’s Lin Dan before losing in a gruelling match in the quarter-finals.