Disappointed Saina says PV Sindhu can win Commonwealth Gold for India

India’s biggest medal hope, shuttler Saina Nehwal who pulled out of the Commonwealth Games at the last minute, has said that she is disappointed at missing out on the Glasgow games and apologised to the fans. However she has said that India could still win the Gold, thanks to the Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa pair and PV Sindhu.

In an interview with the Times of India on the eve of the Commonwealth Games that starts in Glasgow today, Nehwal said, “I think we have chances to win medals in all the categories, and two gold medals with Jwala (Gutta) and Ashwini (Ponnappa), and PV Sindhu”.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games Women’s singles badminton champion pulled out of the Glasgow games due to lack of fitnes and failure to recover sufficiently from blisters on her feet that she suffered during the Australian Open Super Series.

“I just have a few issues like not being fit and during Australia I got the blisters and got injured. It took time for me to recover and so I am withdrawing from the CWG,” the 24-year-old told Reuters in a text message.

“I thought I could at least be fit for the next two events (World Championships and Asian Games). “After Australia I didn’t get enough time to train because of the issues with my leg.”

“A sportsperson’s life is such…it’s really tough”, she told the Times of India

The July 23-Aug 3 event will also be without both defending men’s singles champion as Malaysia’s world number one Lee Chong Wei was ruled out with a thigh injury earlier this month.

Lee, the two-time defending Commonwealth Games champion aggravated an injury he suffered during the Thomas Cup and was admitted to hospital for treatment.