Sindhu skips tournament to recover from Dubai ordeal
Basel, March 9: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will give the Swiss Open a miss as she recovers from the three-day ordeal in Dubai while H S Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will spearhead the Indian challenge at the USD 250,000 tournament starting here on Tuesday.
Sindhu had to withdraw from the All England Championships after being stranded in Dubai for three days due to Gulf airspace restrictions following the US and Israeli bombing of Iran and the subsequent retaliation by Tehran. She was to travel to Birmingham via Dubai but could not do so.
“She is not playing at Swiss Open. We all know what she went through in Dubai, she couldn’t travel to Birmingham. So she has sought some time to recover from it,” Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra said.
After returning home, Sindhu had confessed that she struggled to remain calm during the ordeal in Dubai, wishing it to be the first and last such experience in her life.
“There was a lot of stress. And it was scary. I think the only thing maybe was to stay calm. I know that’s not the ideal situation where you say we are calm, but we’re not inside,” Sindhu had said.
“Actually, it is very stressful. But I think it is an experience, I must say. And I hope it’s the first and the last experience like this way.”
Sindhu is likely to return to action at the Badminton Asia Championships in April.
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. (PTI)
