Hyderabad: In a major set back for the India, star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has pulled out from the upcoming BWF World Championships owing to injury.
Satwik suffered a shoulder injury in the Thailand Open and it has been learned that he will take minimum three weeks to recover from it. The pair was among one of the hot favourites to lift the coveted trophy as they recently won Thiland Open, where they stunned the reigning world champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen.
Meanwhile, Ashwini Ponnappa, who plays mixed doubles with Satwik, has also been ruled out due to her partners' injury.
Due to the hip injury of Pranav Jerry Chopra, the mixed doubles pair of Pranav and Sikki Reddy also decided to withdraw from the tournament.
India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said that the absence of doubles team is a big set back for country as it was a great opportunity to win a world medal after eight years as the pair of Ashwini Ponnapa and Jwala Gutta won a bronze medal in 2011 in London.
Talking about Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu, physio Kiran said " Srikanth and Sindhu have no fitness issues. Saina too has come back in full fitness."
The world championships will take place at Basel from August 19 to 25.
