london Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal on Monday pulled out of the $350,000 Singapore Super Series to spend more time in training to improve her game ahead of the hectic international circuit.
Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu, meanwhile, will look to put behind her disappointing first-round exit at Malaysia when she leads the Indian challenge here.
The 27-year-old Saina said she will next play at the Asian Badminton Championship to be held at Wuhan, China later this month.
"Yes, I withdrew from the tournament as I feel I need some more time training to get better. There is improvement in the knee but I think some more training will help at this point," Saina told PTI.
"I will play Asia Badminton Championship next. I will also play the Indonesia Super Series and the Sudirman Cup," said the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion.
Saina, who had won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in January after recovering from a career-threatening knee injury, had bowed out of the opening round at Malaysia Open last week after losing narrowly to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
While Saina will be missing in action, Sindhu, who clinched her maiden India Open at New Delhi to achieve a career-best World No. 2 ranking, will have to get over the heart-break at Kuching, where she was stunned by upcoming Chinese shuttler Chen Yufei.
However, a tough draw awaits Sindhu as she is slated to face Japan's Nozomi Okuhara, 2016 All England Open champion and Rio Olympic bronze medallist.
Meanwhile, National champion Rituparna Das made into the main draw of women's singles and she will take on Chinese Taipei's Hsu Ya Ching.