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- Dubai 04:12 05:33 12:18 15:43 18:58 20:19
Saina Nehwal of India with her bronze medal following the Women's Singles Badminton gold medal match on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Wembley Arena on August 4, 2012 in London, England. (GETTY)
India's Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal has caused controversy by 'retiring' on match at an international Grand Prix badminton tournament on Wednesday in Lucknow, India.
The 22-year-old world number three was on match-point (21-17, 20-18) against Russian Ksenia Polikarpova when surprisingly she held her knee and told the referee she could not continue, Times of India reported.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) officials were not impressed with Saina's act.
A top BAI official claimed that Saina had already booked her return tickets to her home state of Hyderabad for Wednesday afternoon at 3.30 p.m.
It was reported earlier that Saina, who had skipped the last edition citing fatigue, was not keen on participating this time as well.
"She has had a long season, but personally I would have loved to see her in action here. But as the players give their entries a month in advance, that time they may be enthusiastic and confident that they can compete. But a day before the actual event, their body may not allow them to play," P Gopichand, Saina's coach, said.
But she decided to participate only in the morning session.
After 29 minutes of uninspired play, she clutched her right knee and conceded her opening match on matchpoint, much to the surprise and disappointment of all present.
Saina, however, said that she pulled out because she didn't want to put pressure on her knee, according to the report.
"My physio had told me that I should not put much pressure on my knee. I was playing well but suddenly I felt some problem in my knee, so I decided to quit," said the top seed after the match.
Saina, a champion here in 2009 and 2010, said she was carrying the injury from the Super Series final. Saina lost the semifinals of the BWF World Super Series Finals on Saturday in Shenzhen, China.
"Even when I was playing at the Super Series Finals, I was playing with a taped knee. I have been facing this problem since then. This could have aggravated if I had continued. So, I decided to back out," she added.
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