Still recovering from a foot injury and a recurring fever, defending champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the women's singles competition at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.
The Olympic bronze medallist cited illness as the reason behind her last-minute withdrawl.
"I have been carrying the illness for a couple of days and have not fully recovered. I need some time to recover and get back into shape," Saina said in a letter to the organisers of the event.
World No. 2 Saina had hurt her achilles tendon during the China Open finals last year and missed the Hong Kong Open. She did play in the BWF Super Series Masters at Dubai in December but has been struggling with her fitness ever since.
With Saina withdrawing, two-time bronze medallist at World Championship P V Sindhu will spearhead the Indian challenge.
Among others who pulled out of the event, World No. 11 Tommy Sugiarto is the most prominent name.
Meanwhile, young shuttler Riya Mukherjee emerged as the only Indian to qualify for the main draw in the women's singles by beating Teenu Dahiya 21-1, 21-7 in the opening round before seeing off Mugdha Agrey in the qualifying rounds. She will take on P V Sindhu in the main draw.