Star doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who played a pivotal role in India’s maiden Thomas Cup triumph, pulled out of the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament beginning here on Tuesday.
Chirag suffered some niggles during the tournament and the pair has informed the Badminton Association of India on Monday about their decision to skip the event.
The world No. 8 pair had lost just one match in the Thomas Cup, against Chinese Taipei, and brought India back into the contest after initial reversals against Malaysia and Denmark in the quarter finals and semi-finals.
Among other Indians in the fray, World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, seeded eighth, who had stayed unbeaten with six wins at Thomas Cup, will face Brice Leverdez, while HS Prannoy meets Malaysia’s Daren Liew.
B Sai Praneeth will lock horns with Japan’s Koki Watanabe. In women’s, PV Sindhu will be playing a qualifier, while Saina Nehwal is pitted against Korea’s Kim Ga Eun.
In men’s doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, Shyam Prasad and S Sunijith, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Attri, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K, are the in fray.
The mixed doubles teams are B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, Raju Mohamed Rehan and Jamaludeen Anees Kowsar, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, and Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan.
