PV Sindhu on Monday withdrew from the All England Championships as the shuttler and her Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama are stuck in Dubai due to the situation in West Asia.Confirming the development, Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra told TOI that Sindhu will participate in the Swiss Open Super-300 tournament next week. “Sindhu will not play against All England because of the situation in Dubai. She will compete in the Swiss Open next week,” Mishra told TOI.
A limited number of flights from Abu Dhabi resumed from Monday afternoon, but Dubai airport remains closed.The rest of the Indian squad is in Birmingham for the Super-1000 tournament that starts on Tuesday.Meanwhile, Indian shuttlers will try to break the 25-year-old jinx at this prestigious championship. Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) were the only Indians to win the All England Championships.Saina Nehwal (2015), Lakshya Sen (2022) reached the final, while women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand reached the last four stages in 2022 and 2023.Lakshya might find it tough this year as he drew top seed Shi Yuqi from China in the first round. Fast-rising men’s singles shuttler Ayush Shetty will start against Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan and could face Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen next.Top Indian doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on Malaysian duo Aaron Tai and Kang Khai Kang Xing in the first round. A win here could see them face China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the second round.Treesa and Gayatri have done well in this tournament, but have a difficult first round against Sayaka Hirota and Ayako Sakuramoto. If they beat the Japanese, they could face seventh-seeded Chinese duo Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min.
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