Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, who played through a knee injury at the Rio Olympics, will undergo surgery on her right knee on Saturday morning. She flew to Mumbai from Hyderabad a few days back for treatment on the injured knee.
After returning to India from Brazil on August 16, Nehwal was admitted to a hospital in her home town, Hyderabad. Post an initial diagnosis, Nehwal was advised to fly to Mumbai for further treatment. She was admitted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital in Andheri, Mumbai, and is scheduled for a surgery early Saturday.
The injury to Saina was sustained 10 days prior to her departure for Rio. Her team tried its best to get the 26-year old back in shape for the tournament, and she was administered with dexamethasone injections to subside the pain, after recommendation with the IOC doctors.
Also read: Rio Olympics 2016: Saina Nehwal reveals that she was carrying an injury at the Games
After her exit, her personal coach, Vimal Kumar, said that all the team members were aware of the injury, but none from the media was told.
“Saina developed more pain on her knee after her first round match and had been administered dexamethasone injection on that day. This is to bring down the inflammation and pain. She has fat pad inflammation of the knee and has been taking treatment one week prior to our departure,” he said.
In a Facebook post on her official page, Nehwal attached a snapshot of her diagnosis report, along with the caption "Some sad news friends have to go for surgery tomorrow morning at 6 am”.
She also took to Twitter, posting the same image with the caption: Surgery tomorrow morning at 6 am friends pls pray for me 
The 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist lost to the world number 61, Maria Ulitina, 18-21 19-21 in the group stages to bow out of the competition. After the loss, she revealed that she was carrying an injury, and the resulting inflammation had hindered her game.
Although Nehwal couldn't repeat her feat this time around, her compatriot PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win a silver at the Olympics.
