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What’s the story?
Defending women’s singles champion PV Sindhu has pulled out of the $150,000 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships 2018, scheduled to start at Lucknow, India on November 20.
In order to take adequate rest and gear up for the upcoming BWF World Tour Finals to be held next month, Sindhu has decided to opt out of this tournament. The 23-year-old Pullela Gopichand protégé is now fifth in the race to qualify and is currently the only Indian in the top eight across all categories.
In case you didn’t know...
After two previous runner-up finishes at the Syed Modi International in 2014 and 2016, Sindhu finally got to lay her hands on the trophy in 2017.
The heart of the matter
Sindhu has looked weary, slow and error-prone in the six tournaments she participated in post the Asian Games. Since August she hasn’t managed to reach any final and crashed out as early as the second round in her last tournament at Hong Kong.
It clearly indicated that the effects of a hectic scheduling were curbing the Rio Olympic silver medallist’s chances of progressing deep into an event. With around 20 days left for the season-ender, some rest would help the India No. 1 get back her fighting spirit and be ready to defend her runner-up points from last year.
Despite Sindhu’s pullout, there would not be any shortage of stars at this tournament as both Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth will be competing. While Nehwal has won the Commonwealth Games gold this year, Srikanth is still searching for his first title of the season.
What’s next?
Sindhu will next be seen in action at the BWF World Tour Finals which will be held at the Chinese city of Guangzhou from December 12. Only the top eight of the season across five categories -- men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles -- will get a chance to play at this prestigious USD 1,500,000 event.
Do you think PV Sindhu has taken the right decision? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
