New Delhi: India’s Commonwealth Games women’s singles badminton champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of Glasgow 2014.
“It is an extremely difficult decision but an important one,” said the heartbroken Saina.
The Indian survived a match point in the 2010 final in New Delhi against Malaysia’s Wong Mew Choo to win the gold, which helped the hosts to second on the medals table, their best finish at the quadrennial multi-sport competition.
“I had suffered a groin injury during the first round in Australia and then there were those blisters on my leg but I still won the title. After I came back I had two and a half weeks but I took one week to recover, I hardly got a week to train. So, I decided to pull out. It’s heartbreaking for me as well,” she said.
Olympic bronze medalist Nehwal will now aim to be fit for the World Championships at the end of August and the Asian Games in Incheon in late September.
India had won four medals in the previous edition of the Games at New Delhi. Besides Saina’s gold in women’s singles, the pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won the yellow metal in women’s doubles; Parupalli Kashyap earned a bronze in men’s singles, while the hosts settled for silver in the team event.
Her absence is a blow to India in the team event. The Indian team won silver in 2010 and are third seeds in the team event.
