Badminton: Satwik-Chirag pull out of 2025 Asia Championships

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has pulled out of the upcoming 2025 Badminton Asia Championships.

Rankireddy and Shetty, ranked 11th in the world, were earlier named in the squad released by the Badminton Association of India for the continental tournament.

However, their name is missing from the draw for the tournament released on Tuesday.

Rankireddy and Shetty were last seen in action at the 2025 All England Open Super 1000, where they retired midway in their Round of 16 match.

The Indians had then lost the opening game 16-21 and were level at 2-2 in the second game before Shetty complained of some discomfort in his back and subsequently retired.

They then skipped the 2025 Swiss Open Super 300 last week, where India's women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made semi-finals.

This is the second consecutive year that Rankireddy and Shetty will be missing in action at the Badminton Asia Championships. The duo had missed the previous edition ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics as Rankireddy struggled with a shoulder injury.