Saina Nehwal pulls out of Thailand Open
- Saina Nehwal could not get her 2021 competition underway
- India's PV Sindhu is the only remaining women's singles challenge
- The first badminton tournament of 2021, Thailand Open, starts January 12
India’s women’s singles challenge in the Thailand Open 2021 was dealt with a blow as India’s Saina Nehwal gave a walkover in the first round of the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19.
“After testing positive, both the players have been taken to the hospital to be isolated for a minimum period of 10 days. Meanwhile, Parupalli Kashyap has also withdrawn from the tournament and is quarantined in his hotel room due to close proximity with Nehwal,” the Badminton Association of India said in a statement.
Saina and Prannoy had recovered from COVID-19 last month and along with the Indian team were looking to participate in the Asia leg events comprising the Thailand Open (January 12-17), TOYOTA Thailand Open (January 19-24) and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020 (January 27-31).
Saina, a London Olympics bronze-medallist, was scheduled to play Kisona Salvaduray of Malaysia in the first round on Tuesday, while Prannoy and Kashyap were supposed to face Malaysia’s eighth seed Lee Zii Jia and Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue respectively.
While the trio will miss the tournament, the rest of the Indian team players have been allowed to participate in the event.
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