Injury cuts short Saina Nehwal’s All England Open

Indian ace Saina Nehwal was forced to pull out of the All England Open Badminton Championships on Wednesday after she suffered an injury during her opening round match against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt.

On her 31st birthday, Saina was trailing 21-8, 10-4 when she walked up to the chair to declare her withdrawal from the tie.

It was a tough day for Saina Nehwal in what was her 15th straight All England Open appearance. The Indian was struggling against the Dane right from the start with unforced errors, losing five straight points at the interval in the first game.

Troubles mounted for Saina in the second game. She was in discomfort, grimacing through her pain suspected in her right thigh and soon called it off.

Saina Nehwal has had a difficult year on the badminton court so far this year. She was ousted in the second round at Yonex Thailand Open in January and couldn’t get past the opening round at the Toyota Thailand Open.

In other results, HS Prannoy beat Malaysia’s Daren Liew 21-10, 21-10 while teenager Lakshya Sen upstaged Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-18, 21-12.

The bronze medallist from the 2019 BWF World Championships, B Sai Praneeth, too recorded a straight-games win over France's Toma Junior Popov. The 28-year-old won his opening-round match 21-18, 22-20.

Sameer Verma barely faced any trouble in his win against Ygor Coelho from Brazil. The Indian won the match 21-11, 21-19.

In the second round, while HS Prannoy will take on the world number one Kento Momota, Sameer Verma will face the third seed Andres Antonsen of Denmark. Sai Praneeth, meanwhile, will be up against Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

Earlier, PV Sindhu sailed through to the second round after her win over Malaysia’s Soniia Cheah.

For more updates, visit our live blog of Day 1 of the All England Open.

Lead photo: Badmintonphoto - Courtesy of BWF.