Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth has pulled out of the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament which starts with the qualifiers here on Tuesday.

While Srikanth will be missing in action, Lakshya Sen, finalist of the last edition, will spearhead the Indian challenge.

Sen, and newly crowned national champion Mithun Manjunath, will be the top Indian players.

Sen, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist, had defeated world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals, only to lose the final in the last edition.

This time the 21-year-old, seeded sixth, will meet France’s Christo Popov in the opening round and is expected to face top seed Malaysian Lee Zii Jia in the quarters.

“I might face Lee Zii Jia in quarter finals, so looking forward to it. I have done everything possible to approach this week in the best shape, so hope to get a good momentum ahead of All England,” Sen said.

With back-to-back tournaments lined up, Sen will have renowned physiotherapist Heath Matthews by his side during the European circuit, which also includes the All England Championships.

Malvika Bansod and Saina Nehwal are in the women’s singles draw while the mixed doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and B. Sumeeth Reddy are also in fray.

Chess felicitation

Calcutta: Ten of Bengal’s chess players and arbiters who have made a mark on the national and international chess circuit were felicitated at Shatranj ke Heroes, a programme organised in the city on Monday by Sara Bangla Daba Sangstha.

The 10 who were felicitated were Saparya Ghosh, Sneha Halder, Mrittika Mallick, International Master (IM) Souhardo Basak, IM Utsab Chatterjee, IM Neelash Saha, International Arbiter (IA) Debasish Barua, IA Asit Baran Choudhury, GM Mitrabha Guha and Ananda Kumar Ghosh.

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