Heartbroken Saha to miss Senior Nationals due to injury

New Delhi: India`s promising young table tennis player Sourav Saha is "heartbroken" and "depressed" as a knee injury has forced him out of the 73rd Senior National and Inter State Championships, commencing in Lucknow from Monday.

"I won`t be playing in the senior nationals due to injury on my left knee. It`s really heartbreaking and I am feeling very depressed. Doctors have advised me a complete one and a half month rest," Saha said. "I have a cartilage tear within the knee. It`s a Grade 2 tear for which I underwent an operation. The injury happened just before the National Rankings in Rajahmundry which also forced me to withdraw from the Youth Nationals earlier this month," said Saha, who was jointly India`s number one paddler in U-21 category along with G Sathiyan before the injury. The injury will also see Saha missing out on a few important upcoming tournaments like the Asian Championships in Macau next month and the World Team Championships in Germany in March-April. "I will not be seen in action in tournaments like Asian and World Team Championships as my injury has forced me to sit out of the circuit. Had it not been the injury, I would have found myself in the list of probables for these two big tournaments. The team will be decided based on the performance in National Rankings and Senior Nationals. When you are injured you can`t do anything." PTI