Gold medallists India’s Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty pose in the course of the medal ceremony for the Men’s Doubles.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Star Indian shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on Thursday pulled out of their males’s doubles title defence at subsequent week’s Badminton Asia Championships with the previous recuperating from a shoulder damage.
Last April, Satwik and Chirag, presently ranked world primary, had made historical past by breaking a 58-year-old drought as they grew to become the primary Indians after Dinesh Khanna to be topped champions on the Asia Badminton Championships in Dubai.
Dinesh Khanna had achieved the uncommon feat of successful gold in 1965.
However, Satwik and Chirag, who’ve been in rollicking type this season, having received the French Open Super 750 and ending runner-up in two finals, on Thursday determined to decide out of the event.
“It is not a new injury, it is something which happens due to overuse of shoulder and Satwik is already on road to recovery. They are still training but the intensity is little less. So, looking at the bigger picture, they decided to withdraw,” a supply within the know of issues instructed PTI on situations of anonymity.
“They have been consistently playing the finals and in a way they are lucky that it didn’t crop up during major events. So it is a good time to address the issue. They are elite athletes and need to choose events wisely, they shouldn’t rush things.” It is a recurrent damage as Satwik has been troubled by his proper shoulder previously however he had recovered from it as he and Chirag went on to win laurels for the nation. But following the European leg this season, it appeared to have flared up a bit.
Satwik and Chirag are presently into their tenth week as world primary, surpassing Saina Nehwal’s report of 9 successive weeks on the prime of BWF rankings.
The crack pair had a stellar season within the final two years, successful the 2022 world championships bronze, 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medal, 2023 Asia championships gold, the 2023 Asian Games gold medal, 2022 Thomas Cup winners, 2023 Indonesia Super 1000 champions and 2023 Korea Open winners.
The duo has been named in India’s sturdy Thomas Cup crew which is able to look to defend their title in China from April 27.
“Thomas Cup remains an important event and they will be back for the prestigious tournament as we are the defending championships,” the supply mentioned.
The withdrawal of the highest pair means HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu will now lead India’s cost on the prestigious event.
