Saina Nehwal was forced out from the opening round in 2019 Korea Open after injuring herself midway through the first round match against local shuttler Kim Ga Eun in Incheon on Wednesday. Nehwal, who has been knocked out from the first round in four tournaments this year, had to retire hurt following an injury. The Olympics medallist was behind in the deciding set with the game tied on 1-1 when she decided to retire. Nehwal had won the first set 21-19 before Kim Ga Eun levelled the scores 18-21. The Korean shuttler was leading the third set 8-1 before Nehwal called it quits. PV Sindhu Knocked Out Korea Open 2019, Indian Shuttler Loses to Zhang Beiwen in the First Round.

Nehwal thus becomes the second Indian shuttler after B Sai Praneeth to exit the Korean Open with an injury. Sai Praneeth also made an early exit in men's singles event after he was forced to retire midway in his first-round match against Anders Antonsen of Denmark. Praneeth had lost the first game 9-21 and was trailing 7-11 in the second when he chose to retire because of injury and thus send Antonsen through to the round of 16. Her ouster, with Sindhu also knocked out, also drew an end to India's campaign in the women's singles category.

Meanwhile, world champion, P.V. Sindhu crashed out of the Korea Open Super 500 tournament after suffering a shocking first-round loss to Zhang Beiwen of the US. Fifth-seeded Sindhu, who became the first Indian to win Badminton World Championships gold last month, squandered the first-game advantage and went down 21-7, 22-24, 15-21 by World No. 10 Beiwen in a contest that lasted for almost an hour. PV Sindhu Coach, Kim Ji Hyu of South Korea Resigns Due to Personal Reasons Ahead of Korea Open Badminton 2019.

It was a tough loss for the reigning world champion as she had a match point in the second game. But the American hung in there and closed out the match comfortably eventually. With the win, Beiwen snapped a three-match losing streak against the Indian. This was a second successive early exit for Sindhu. The 24-year-old had crashed out of the China Open World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament as she went down fighting to Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong last week. (With IANS Inputs).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 25, 2019 02:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).