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Saina crashes out, Srikanth moves up
RIO DE JANEIRO: Medal hopeful Sania Nehwal crashed out in the group stages on Sunday.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Medal hopeful Sania Nehwal crashed out in the group stages on Sunday.
World No 5 Nehwal, who created history four years ago in London by winning a bronze medal, which was the first by an Indian in the sport, was shocked 18-21 19-21 by world No 61 Maria Ulitina of Ukraine in 39 minutes.
The former world No 1, who had beaten Brazilian Vicente Lohaynny earlier in the three-woman Group G, had carried a knee injury into the Games, a fact which came to the fore after her loss.
“I had a knee pain and could not give my best. It was heavily strapped, and I tried my best. My movements were not smooth and were painful. It’s heartbreaking loss. I also feel very bad about it,” Saina said.
The injury had happened just before the Olympics during training and it aggravated in Rio. “She had developed more pain on her knee after the first round and had been administered dexamethasone injection that day. She has fat pad inflammation of the knee and have been taking treatment one week prior to our departure. She herself decided to take the injection after consulting the IOC doctors here and they have given her that in the Olympic village clinic. We hoped she would be getting relief from the pain today but didn’t get the desired relief,” explained coach Vimal Kumar.
Kidambi Srikanth lifted some gloom from India’s sagging badminton campaign as he reached the men’s singles pre-quarterfinal. Former world No 3, Srikanth defeated Sweden’s Henri Hurskainen 21-6 21-18 in the second match of group H that lasted 34 minutes here. PV Sindhu reached the prequarters with a 19-21 21-15 21-17 win over Canada’s Michelle Li.
DISAPPOINTING
Indian shooters ended their campaign on a disappointing note when rifle shooters Gagan Narang, bronze medalist in London in 2012, and Chain Singh crashed out of the 3-position event - the last one scheduled in Olympics programme.
Chain Singh was in the running to enter the finals after the prone and kneeling rounds but then a series of poor rounds in the standing position left him stranded in the 23rd spot with a total of 1169 in the qualification stage.
