After withdrawing from the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, top shuttler Saina Nehwal has now pulled out from the Thailand Masters as well, scheduled to start on Tuesday. The reasons for her withdrawal is yet to be known.
The 26-year-old had cited illness for withdrawing from the Lucknow-based competition, a tournament that she had won in 2015 and now has pulled out of a second-straight Grand Prix Gold event.
The 2015 World Championships silver medalist also couldn't compete in the ongoing South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong after failing to recover fully and had written to the Badminton Association of India(BAI) about wanting to not participate in the multi-sport event.
Saina also didn't feature in all of the matches in the Premier Badminton League for the franchise the Awadhe Warriors and lost her semifinal against Han Li of China from the Mumbai Rockets, which proved to be a decisive result for her side.
Ranked Number 2 in the world, Saina remains the most assured of all shuttlers to book a spot for Rio Olympics in August. The next big event lined up is the Badminton Asia Team Championships, scheduled to begin from the 15th of February in her hometown of Hyderabad and here’s hoping that the Indian is 100% fit to lead the country’s charge in that event, where they are drawn with China and Thailand.
