(Image source from: The Indian Express)
At the Korea Open Super 500 badminton tournament on Wednesday, badminton player Parupalli Kashyap was the lone Indian to make it in the singles event registering 21-16 21-16 over Lu Chia Hung of Chinese Taipei in a men’s singles match that lasted 42 minutes.
Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth made exits in their first round matches due to injury. Also, World Champion PV Sindhu made first round exit after going down 7-21 24-22 15-21 at the hands of USA’s Beiwen Zhang.
Sai Praneeth, the winner of a bronze medal at the World Championships in Basel was lagging behind 9-21 7-11 when he conceded the match to fifth-seeded Danish badminton player Anders Antonsen due to an ankle injury.
Saina, who clinched bronze medal in the women's badminton singles at the London 2012 Olympic Games, was lagging behind 21-19, 18-21 and 1-8 against South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun when she was forced to withdraw.
Saina’s husband and personal coach Kashyap said she retired because of gastroenteritis problem.
It seems she had a relapse of the gastroenteritis that bothered her early in the year. She was feeling dizzy and vomited yesterday. In fact, she went to the stadium straight from the hospital today.
Still she could have won but when it went to three games, she didn’t have anything left in her tank. We need to check with the doctor when we go back. It has been a difficult year for her.
For Saina, this year was stuffed with ups and downs because of injuries. From the point she won the Indonesia Open at the beginning of the season, she has struggled. At the China Open Super 1000 event early this week, Saina made a first-round exit.
(Image source from: The Hindu Business Line)
The Olympic silver-medallist Sindhu was knocked out of the China Open by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second round last week.
By Sowmya Sangam
