Saina’s pull out hurts Awadhe
PBL’S star attraction says she doesn’t want to risk foot injury in Olympic year
MUMBAI: India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal chose to skip the opening tie of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in Mumbai on Saturday, citing a foot injury for the last-minute pullout.
Saina came on court ahead of the tie and announced her inability to participate, leaving the few spectators who had trickled into the Sardar Patel NSCI Stadium disappointed.
The World No 2, who was bought by Awadhe Warriors for $100,000 (₹67lakh), said she had suffered a serious foot injury and did not want to aggravate it, keeping in mind the Rio Olympic Games scheduled in August.
“Just the last couple of weeks ago I had suffered a foot injury. It is quite serious and I am on the verge of recovering,” said Saina.
“This being the Olympic year I wanted to play it safe. It was my first practice sessions after a few weeks. We have five matches and I hope to recover and play,” she added.
Saina had played in the season-ending Dubai Super Series last month but did not cross the group stage after losing two out of three games.
Saina had suffered a heel injury in August. Despite the niggles she had played in the year-ending Dubai Super Series Finals in December.
Saina is the main crowdpuller of the league and her participation is crucial to draw crowds to the arena and viewers on television.
She had reached the final of the China Open in November before pulling out of the Hong Kong Open due to the foot injury.
On Saturday, she accompanied her team – Awadhe Warriors – to the venue and cheered from the sidelines. Her side though did not fare well, slumping to 2-1 loss in the tie.
Saina’s place in the women’s singles was taken by 17-yearold G Vrushali. The youngster lost against National champion Ruthvika Gadde Shivani of the host team after the first men’s singles game was won by Rockets’ RMV Gurusaidutt against Warriors’ Sai Praneeth.
Later, Mumbai’s men’s doubles pair of Mathias Boe and Vladimir Ivanov overcame Cai Yun/hendra Gunawan of the Warriors to give the home side the advantage.
Awadhe though made a comeback with Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk beating Mumbai’s HS Prannoy in the other men’s singles match of the tie. However, Mumbai’s initial success was enough to give them a 2-1 win over the Lucknow outfit.