PV Sindhu has withdrawn from the Swiss Open after a stressful three-day ordeal in Dubai amid the Iran-Israel war. She was forced to pull out of All England Open after being stranded in the city due to travel restrictions.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has withdrawn from the Swiss Open as she continues to recover from the stressful experience she faced in Dubai recently. The Indian badminton star decided to skip the tournament after being stranded in the city for three days due to airspace restrictions amid the ongoing Iran-Israel war.
Sindhu had earlier pulled out of the All England Open Badminton Championships after she was unable to travel to Birmingham. She was scheduled to fly from India to Birmingham via Dubai, but her travel plans were disrupted following airspace restrictions in the region due to the conflict.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra has now confirmed that Sindhu will not take part in the Swiss Open as she needs some time to recover from the experience. “She is not playing at Swiss Open. We all know what she went through in Dubai. She could not travel to Birmingham. So she has sought some time to recover from it,” Mishra told PTI.
Sindhu was constantly sharing updates from Dubai while she was stranded there with her team amid the war. In one of her posts, the badminton star revealed that her coach had survived an explosion that occurred just 100 metres away from where he was.
Indians at Swiss Open
In men’s singles, Srikanth, who reached two finals last year at the Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi International, will open against Jason Gunawan, who had dashed his hopes of ending a title drought in Lucknow.
Prannoy, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist and Asian Games bronze winner, will take on Japan’s Koki Watanabe.
His academy teammate Tharun Mannepalli will face another Japanese player Kenta Nishimoto, while Ayush Shetty will take on Canada’s Brian Yang. Kiran George will meet Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in another opening round clash.
In men’s doubles, world No. 4 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face Singapore’s Eng Keat Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo. The Indian pair had exited in the opening round of the All England Championships last week.
The men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M R Arjun will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh.
In the absence of Sindhu, Unnati Hooda will face Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian, while Malvika Bansod will take on Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in women’s singles.
In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will face Hu Ling Fang and Zheng Yu Chieh of Chinese Taipei. The Indian pair had won the Syed Modi International Super 300 title for the second successive time last year but exited in the opening round of the All England Championships.
In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto will take on Denmark’s Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund, while Rohan Kapoor and Gadde Ruthvika will face Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.
(With agency inputs)
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