Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy pull out of the Badminton Asian Championships

Kidambi Srikanth has cited fitness reasons for his pull out from the tournament

World No.4 Kidambi Srikanth and World No.14 HS Prannoy have pulled out of next week’s Badminton Asian Championships(BAC) to be played in Wuhan, China. While Prannoy is yet to completely recover from a swollen foot, which also caused him to hand a walkover in last week’s Singapore Open Superseries, Srikanth has withdrawn as he feels he isn't fully fit to take part in the tournament.

“I have been playing in a lot of tournaments in the last five-six weeks. Also, I have a pain in the shin. I am hoping to be fit to play in next year's BAC,” Srikanth said in an interview to DNA.

A senior official from the Badminton Association of India(BAI) told DNA that in the absence of the duo, India’s charge at the tournament will be led by 2014 Commonwealth Games Gold medalist Parupalli Kashyap, “who is now the main player in the absence of Srikanth and Prannoy”.

Another official said that the reason for Srikanth to opt out of the competition could be that he still hasn't quite recovered from the losses he suffered at the Malaysia and Singapore Open.

“Srikanth is not really prepared as he has been playing continuously. Maybe he is feeling a little low as he has not done well in Malaysia and Singapore Open,” he said.

In the women’s singles, Saina Nehwal will once again carry all the hopes on her shoulders and she will be joined by World No.9 PV Sindhu, who will make a comeback after a layoff of close to three months after recovering from a navicular stress fracture on her left leg.

PV Sindhu to make a comeback at the Championships

Both players will have a bye in their respective first rounds. While Sindhu will face Anait Khurshudyan of Uzbekistan in the second round, Saina will be up against Mariya Anghela Sevilla of Philippines in her second round encounter and is drawn to take on fifth-seed Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals and Tai’s fellow countrywomen Wang Shixian in the semis.

Saina’s current coach U Vimal Kumar, who will be accompanying her to China, said that the shuttler is fit and looking forward to the event.

“She is absolutely okay. It is 10 days of training since her return from Malaysia Open and she is working on her first match. She is looking forward to it in the tough event,” he said.

Men’s Singles: Parupalli Kashyap

Men’s Doubles: Akshay Dewalkar/Pranav Jerry Chopra; Manu Atri/ B Sumeeth Reddy

Women’s Singles: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu

Women’s doubles: Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa

Mixed Doubles: Arun Vishnu/Aparna Balan

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Edited by Staff Editor