Thailand Open: Saina Nehwal loses second-round clash to Busanan Ongbamrungphan

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been kcked out of ongoing edition of Thailand Open after a 23-21, 14-21, and 16-21 loss to Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in an intense second-round match that lasted over an hour (68 minutes) on Thursday. 

Saina Nehwal kcked out of Thailand Open

2012 Olympic bronze medalist had dominated in first set but failed to continue momentum reafter as she ended up conceding next two sets. Nehwal's Thailand counterpart, on or hand, showed a lot of intensity after losing first set as she std a great comeback t only to win contest but also to progress to next round of tournament. 

Meanwhile, this was Saina's fourth straight loss to world number 12 Busanan. Coming back to Thailand Open, 30-year-old who had been tested positive before start of tournament along with HS Prany, had defeated Malaysia's Kisona Selvaduray in straight games on Wednesday after being cleared to participate in tournament post negative COVID-19 test.

READ: Thailand Open Badminton 2021: Kidambi Srikanth Suffers Unfortunate Calf Muscle Injury

Injury forces Kidambi Srikanth to give a walkover

In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth's opponent Lee Zii Jia was handed a walkover on Thursday. ace Indian shuttler had defeated Indian compatriot Sourabh Verma in first round and was set to face Malaysian Badminton star, Lee Zii Jia. However, an injury forced him to withdraw his name from competition.

In fact, Srikanth took to Twitter to confirm that he had to pull out of tournament after he sustained a right calf muscle pull. However, he hopes to be fit by next week for next round of Thailand leg.

Ironically, it was revealed that shuttler suffered from se bleeding on Tuesday following mandatory PCR test. An official statement regarding same was also released by Badminton World Federation (BWF) as well.

" athlete had been swabbed three times earlier with most recent one possibly causing irritation and fragility of capillaries. refore, when swab was repeated on Tuesday, and factoring in athlete’s tense nature, position of stick in nasal pass was misaligned, which caused slight bleeding ticed from tip of swab." 

statement also claimed re was bleeding at time of PCR test, but blood was reported by or Indian participants at least three to five minutes later. "It is t kwn wher athlete had blown his se or stuck tissue up his strils which could have caused more blood vessels to rupture."

READ: Saina Nehwal, HS Prany Cleared To Play For Thailand Open After Antibody Test: BWF

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