Star shuttler Saina Nehwal will spearhead the Indian challenge at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, which starts here today after defending champion PV Sindhu pulled out yesterday
PV Sindhu
PV Sindhu
Macau: Star shuttler Saina Nehwal will spearhead the Indian challenge at the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, which starts here today after defending champion PV Sindhu pulled out yesterday.
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The Rio Olympics silver medallist was originally scheduled to take on China's Yue Han in the opening match of the tournament tomorrow. Sindhu lost in the final of the Hong Kong Open on Sunday.
But the Hyderabadi shuttler has withdrawn after paying back-to-back China Open and Hong Kong Open tournaments. "No, she will not be playing in the Macau Open because she has played two back-to-back tournaments recently. So she needs rest before the BWF Superseries Final in Dubai," her father PV Ramana confirmed.
The Dubai Superseries final will be played from December 14-18 where only the world's top eight players make the cut.
In Sindhu's absence her compatriot Saina Nehwal, who recovered from a knee surgery which affected her Olympic campaign three months back, will be the main Indian challenge in the women's singles.