Tearful Sania joins Beijing casualty list

BEIJING  - A tearful Sania Mirza retired from the Olympic singles tournament with a right wrist injury on Monday, shattering her "dream" to play here and dealing a blow to Indian hopes.
Mirza, who only returned to action in June after surgery on the wrist, was trailing Czech player Iveta Benesova 6-1, 2-1 when she pulled out.
"I've been feeling constant pain for the last two weeks," she said, wiping away tears as she spoke to reporters.
"I've been on pain killers for the last six days. I took four this morning.
"It's unfortunate timing, it's very bad but there's nothing I can do."
ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti dismissed fears that players were not taking the Olympics seriously after a series of withdrawals.
"It is never a happy circumstance when a player is forced to withdraw from any tournament including the Olympic Tennis Event," he said.
"But I think it shows how important the Olympics have become to our sport when players of the calibre of Ana Ivanovic and Ivan Ljubicic travelled all the way to Beijing in the hope of being fit enough to compete for their countries."
Mirza said doctors were baffled by the injury, which had caused everything from elbow pain to numb fingers. An MRI scan last week failed to detect the problem.
"I've had surgery but this is a different problem. They don't know what it is," she said.