Kallang, July 15 (Representative) Veteran Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s await a tournament victory as she fell 13-21,21-15, 20-22 to Aya Ohori of Japan in the quarterfinal of the Singapore Open Super 500 here on Friday. Having struggled with injuries in the past, Singapore was a chance for the Indian ace to reclaim her lost glory as she notched a sensational win over Chinese world No 9 He Bing Jiao in the quarterfinal Thursday.In 2022 season, Nehwal has managed to reach the last-8 stage only on two occassion — India Open and Singapore Open.Saina’s last tournament win came in 2019 when she won the Indonesia Masters — her first BWF Super 500 title — against Carolina Marín in 2019.
Marin retired mid-way due to injury that credited Nehwal the winning title. Since her 2019 win, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist has been having a torrid time in her battle against injuries.In the BWF India open earlier this year, Saina suffered a shocking loss at the hands of young Indian Malvika Bansod in the quarterfinal. She was then ousted in second round of the German Open followed by a same result in the prestigious All England Open.Interestingly, Saina is the only Indian woman to have reached the final of the All England Open in 2015. She lost the final to Spain’s Olympic champion Marin.
In the last three years, Saina’s best performance had been a semifinal finish at Orleans Master Super 100 last year. In 2020, she had reached the quarterfinal stage at Malaysia Masters and Barcelona Spain Masters.Troubled by injury for a few years, Saina couldn’t manage to maintain her form and also was unable to qualify for the Tokyo Games but nevertheless boasts an incredible array of accomplishments.She has won over 24 international titles, eleven of which are Superseries titles in her career so far.