In a blow to Indian badminton fans, the India No. 2 Parupalli Kashyap has pulled out of the upcoming Yonex Sunrise India Open Superseries as his knee injury has not healed fully yet. The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion twisted his knee at the German Open which forced him to concede the third round match to eighth seed Son Wan Ho.
The India Open Superseries is scheduled from March 29 to April 3 in New Delhi where Kashyap was supposed to start against a qualifier before setting up a possible second round clash with the fifth seed Viktor Axelsen.
The World No. 18 confirmed on his Twitter account on Sunday about his withdrawal.
The two-time Syed Modi International winner has been dogged by a series of injuries since last October which has dimmed his hopes of qualifying for the Rio Olympics. A torn calf muscle sustained at the French Open Superseries kept him out of action for two months and made him miss the prestigious Dubai World Superseries Finals in December.
His return to the BWF circuit in January at the Syed Modi International was short-lived as he suffered an abdominal strain there and subsequently had to pull out of the Thailand Masters and the South Asian Games. His hopes of playing uninterrupted on the Tour were once again dashed at the German Open in early March.
That effected in withdrawals from the All England Open and now the India Open Superseries as well. As a result, his ranking too plummeted 10 spots from his eighth position in October, 2015.
The 29-year-old, though, has expressed his optimism of participating at the Malaysian Open Superseries Premier, beginning April 5. With the stipulated Olympic qualification cut-off date being May 1, Kashyap undoubtedly will be in a race against time if the London Olympic quarter-finalist wants to make it to the mega-quadrennial Games for the second straight time.
The Pullela Gopichand protégé, however, is cautious about his approach in the next few weeks and does not want to run the risk of sustaining a more serious injury just to fulfill his Olympic dreams.
“I don’t want to rush into anything just for the sake of qualifying. I risk sustaining a more serious injury if I do that,” the World No. 18 has said in a recent interview.
