Indian shuttler PV Sindhu on Wednesday wished Spain’s Carolina Marin a speedy recovery after she was forced out of the Tokyo Games due to a freak knee injury and said she will miss the reigning Olympic champion at the quadrennial event.
Marin, a prime contender for the gold medal at the Tokyo Games, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during training and pulled out of the showpiece event on Tuesday.
“So sorry to hear about your injury. Hoping that you will recover soon and come back stronger,” Sindhu, who had won silver medal at Rio Games after losing to Mar n in the final, said in a video message posted on Twitter.
Recalling the epic final match, Sindhu said: “I remember the last Olympic Games when we played in the final. It was really good competing against you so I’m going to miss that again, and I’ve been missing you, seeing you on court.
“I will miss you at the Olympic Games but hope we compete against each other soon, so come back fast and recover soon. Lots of love.”
A beautiful gesture from PV Sindhu. 💞
— Olympics (@Olympics) June 2, 2021
After Spain's Olympic badminton champion @CarolinaMarin was forced to withdraw from #Tokyo2020 with injury, Indian friend and rival @pvsindhu1 has sent a moving message of support. #StrongerTogether I @bwfmedia I @COE_es
Wishing you a speedy recovery, looking forward to seeing you back on court soon .. @CarolinaMarin 🤗😘 https://t.co/dFHFsLgLYc
— Pvsindhu (@Pvsindhu1) June 2, 2021
The 27-year-old from Spain felt discomfort in her knee during training on Saturday and tests later revealed that it’s an ACL injury.
Marin had earlier suffered an ACL on her right knee in January 2019, which kept her out of the courts until September of that year.
Marin, a three-time World Champion, was a title favourite as she had been in red-hot form this year, winning four of the five finals that she played.
Inputs from PTI