New Delhi, April 21: Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been ruled out of the upcoming Sudirman Cup Finals 2025 due to sickness.
The world No. 10 men’s doubles duo was set to return to action in the competition after an injury break.
“Update: Satwik-Chirag ruled out of BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2025 due to sickness,” the Badminton Association of India wrote in an Instagram story.
Satwik and Chirag last competed at the All England Open Super 1000 last month. Since then, they’ve been absent from the circuit and had also withdrawn from the Badminton Asia Championships. The former world No. 1 duo has become the second pair of Indian shuttlers to pull out of the prestigious tournament, following the withdrawal of the women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.
India’s squad will now feature former world champion PV Sindhu, World Championships medallists Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy among others.
The biennial tournament, which is the World Mixed Team Championships, will be held in Xiamen, China from April 27 to May 4.
India qualified for the prestigious mixed team championships based on their world ranking and will be eyeing to first seal their knockout berth from a tough Group D lineup that also includes former champions Indonesia, two-time runners-up Denmark, and England.
Every tie in the Sudirman Cup consists of five matches – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
A total of 16 teams will contest the 19th edition of the Sudirman Cup. Four seeded teams were placed in separate groups during the draw with defending champions and hosts China being top seeds in Group A.
The Indian badminton team’s best results in the Sudirman Cup came in 2011 and 2017 when they reached the quarter-finals. In the last edition, India were eliminated in the group stage after losing to Malaysia and Chinese Taipei. (IANS)
