India's cup of woes in the Rio Olympics brimmed to the full when one of the brightest medal hopes, badminton star Saina Nehwal, crashed out of the Games without even making it to the knock out round from the group stage here today. World No. 5 Nehwal, who created history four years ago in London by winning a bronze medal which was the first by an Indian in the sport, was left dazed after she lost 18-21 19-21 to world No. 61 Maria Ulitina of Ukraine in a match that lasted 39 minutes.
The former world no. 1, who had beaten Brazilian Vicente Lohaynny on August 11 in the three-woman Group G, had carried a knee injury into the Games, a fact which came to the fore after her loss.
"I had a knee pain and could not give my best. It was heavily strapped, and I tried my best. My movements were not smooth and were painful. It's heartbreaking loss. I also feel very bad about it," Saina said after her shock exit.
According to the star Indian shuttler, the injury happened during training before the Olympics and it got worse after she reached Rio.
"It happened just before the Olympics about one and half weeks back. It happened during training and got aggravated after coming here," she said.
"She played better but I was not able to move on the court. I tried for improvement but was not successful," she explained further.
The victory propelled the tall Ukrainian into the knock out pre-quarter finals while knocking Saina out of contention to send shock waves in the Indian camp which has drawn a blank in the first eight days of competition here.
Saina's exit left Indian hopes in badminton on the shoulders of two other singles players who are both ranked outside the top ten - K Srikanth in men's singles and P V Sindhu in women's singles.
Both will be seen in action later today.
Indian shooters ended their campaign on a disappointing note when rifle shooters Gagan Narang, bronze medalist in London in 2012, and Chain Singh crashed out of the 3-position event - the last one scheduled in Olympics programme.
Chain Singh was in the running to enter the finals after the prone and kneeling rounds but then a series of poor rounds in the standing position left him stranded in the 23rd spot with a total of 1169 in the qualification stage.
Narang looked out of sorts from the beginning and was trailing far behind before eventually finishing in the 33rd place out of 44 with 1162.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Saina Nehwal")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}