Saina Nehwal withdraws from German Grand Prix Gold

What’s the story?

Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal has withdrawn from the upcoming German Grand Prix Gold, as revealed by the draw published by the tournament, scheduled to be held from February 28-March 5. Apart from the reigning Malaysia Masters champion, the India No. 1 men’s singles player Ajay Jayaram has pulled out as well.

In case you didn’t know..

After making a thunderous start to the 2017 season by winning the Malaysia Masters title, Nehwal had been very cautious about her schedule for the rest of the season. She played for three weeks in a row at the Premier Badminton League and in Malaysia in January which prompted her to withdraw from the Syed Modi International.

The move was to allow herself more time for rehabilitation of the knee on which she had undergone surgery in September. At that time, she had hinted at making her return to the German Grand Prix Gold.

The heart of the matter

Even though the event will be missing Saina Nehwal and Ajay Jayaram, there are still quite a few quality Indian shuttlers in the draw. Men’s singles star Kidambi Srikanth, who had skipped all February tournaments, is still there in the draw and is seeded 12th.

Besides him, the young brigade of Siril Verma and Harsheel Dani features in the draw along with Subhankar Dey and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina. The pair of Tarun Kona and Alwin Francis is in men’s doubles.

What’s next?

Both the Indian shuttle queens – Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu – are in the entry list of the inaugural Asian Mixed Team Championships scheduled to be held in Vietnam from February 14-19. If Saina ultimately decides to pull out of it keeping in mind the hectic Superseries season ahead, she will next be seen in action at the prestigious All England Championships from March 7.

Saina became the first Indian woman to reach the final of this tournament back in 2015.

Sportskeeda’s take

Since a hectic part of the season ensues in March with four Superseries events packed in two months, this is the ideal time for Nehwal to take a break. With a tournament as elite as the All England Championships being scheduled just the week after the German Grand Prix Gold, the former World No. 1 understandably did not want to risk her fitness as she sets her sights on climbing back to the top echelons of her sport.