After battling severe back pain to win India’s first men’s singles medal in 41 years in Hangzhou, HS Prannoy will now need to miss two to three weeks of competition.
Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy withdrew from the Denmark Open Super 750 competition due to a back problem that bothered him during his historic run of earning bronze at the just finished Asian Games. After overcoming severe back pain to win India’s first men’s singles medal in 41 years in Hangzhou, the 31-year-old Indian will now need to miss two to three weeks of competition. This month, we have no plans to participate in any tournaments. I will be out for two to three weeks due to something that also surfaced in the MRI, which means I won’t be able to play Denmark and France,” Prannoy told sources.
“I will need to rest and then start with rehab.” In his absence, India’s charge will be led by Lakshya Sen, who returns to the court after helping India win its first-ever silver medal in the men’s team event at the Asian Games.
Sen, who went undefeated at the Asian Games, will face Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round before facing China’s sixth seed Shi Yuqi in the second round.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, will also be looking for a solid performance following a semifinal finish at the Arctic Open last week. Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland will be her opponent.
“I will need to rest and then start with rehab.” In his absence, India’s charge will be led by Lakshya Sen, who will return to the court after helping India win its first-ever silver medal in the men’s team event at the Asian Games.
Sen, who went undefeated at the Asian Games, will face Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen in the first round before facing China’s sixth seed Shi Yuqi in the second.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, will also be looking for a successful outing after finishing in the semifinals of the Arctic Open last week. She will compete against Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland.
In his first game, World No. 20 Kidambi Srikanth will face China’s Weng Hong Yang, who is also frantically trying to amass ranking points in order to make the cut for the Paris Olympics.
It will be a difficult match for the former world number one, who has been inconsistent all season.
Priyanshu Rajawat, ranked 30th in the world, will also have his work cut out for him as he meets world No. 14 Lee Zii Jia, who is riding high after winning the Arctic Open.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the newly crowned world No. 1 pair who won an incredible gold in Hangzhou, will compete against Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi.
Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun will also be absent after the former suffered a back injury in Hangzhou.
The women’s team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, on the other hand, will return to the court after the Asian Games to face Thailand’s Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard.
