Saina Nehwal Hopes to Return to the Court by October-End

The Indian star shuttler said she hopes to play tournaments scheduled for November if “everything goes well”.

Saina Nehwal hopes to recover by October-end. (Photo: Reuters)

Recovering from a knee injury, India’s star shuttler Saina Nehwal said she is hoping to return to the courts by the end of next month. Nehwal, who suffered a knee injury in August, had earlier said she expected to recover fully by December.

Not before end (of) October, so I will miss tournaments till that time. I am world No 8 at present, it may go down further. We have already done six weeks of rehab and still five to six more weeks are to be put before I go to courts for practice.

Saina Nehwal, Indian Badminton Player

The 26-year-old shuttler, who won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics, said she hopes to play tournaments scheduled for November if “everything goes well”.

I am fine; the rehab plan is working nicely under the guidance of Heath Matthews, Head Sports Medicine, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital Mumbai. I am highly thankful to them and Ms Chandan Poddar, physio, for the help.

The intra-articular injury to Saina’s right knee in early August had aggravated during the Rio Olympics and a small fragment of the bone had separated from her knee cap bone.

After she lost in the Group stage to Ukraine’s Marija Ulitina in the second match, she had revealed that she had an inflammation on her right knee because of an injury she picked up during training before the Games.

(With inputs from PTI.)