Reigning Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin will not be defending her title at the Tokyo Games after announcing that she will be undergoing surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Marin made the announcement on social media on Tuesday afternoon, saying, "I confirm that I have torn the ACL and both meniscus on my left knee. I will undergo surgery this week and start my recovery".
"I want to thank everyone for your support and messages during these days. This is another blow that I have to deal with, but I will certainly be back.
"The preparation during the last two months had become very difficult for reasons beyond the team's control, but we were excited and knew that I would be in the best shape for the Olympics. It won't be possible. I know that I am in safe hands and I have a lot of people by my side," added the world number four who had beaten PV Sindhu in the final of the Rio Games to win the gold.
Marin's Withdrawal Throws Open Tokyo Draw
Even though she is currently ranked fourth in the world, Marin was one of the most in-form players going into this summer's Olympics, having won four titles in 2021.
She started the year with titles at the two back-to-back Thailand Open tournaments, beating world number one Tai Tzu Ying in both finals. She finished runner-up behind the Chinese Taipei player at the World Tour Finals but started March with yet another big win, beating PV Sindhu 21-12, 21-5 in the gold medal match of the Swiss Open.
Her last outing was the European Championships where she again reached the final, without dropping a game, and won the title with a 21-13, 21-18 win over Line Christophersen on 2 May.
The Spanish 28-year-old's withdrawal from the Tokyo Games also throws open the draw with Tai having played only four events this year, and winning one. Second ranked Chinese Chen Yu Fei has not participated in any event in 2021 while third ranked Nozomi Okuhara played only the All England, but took home the title.
PV Sindhu is currently ranked seventh in the world having played five tournaments in 2021 including the two Thailand Opens where she made a first round and a quarter-final exit. She was knocked out in the third round of the World Tour Finals and lost the Swiss Open title match to Marin. Her last outing was the All England Championships in March where she exited in the semi-final.
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