BWF World Championships 2019: Satwiksairaj & Chirag opt out due to injuries

In a major setback, recently crowned Thailand Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have pulled out of the upcoming Badminton World Championship owing to injuries. However, injuries doused the hopes of the two as Satwiksairaj is believed to be recovering from shoulder strain while Chirag has abdomen discomfort. https://twitter.com/bwfmedia/status/1162189914697416706

 "Satwik's shoulder injury which he suffered at Thailand Open didn't heal as quickly as we expected, and I also had pulled up my abs during the semifinals, so we decided to skip the World Championship,"Chirag told PTI.

"We spoke to the coaches and physio and they said if we play then it can aggravate and we might miss out a month or two. So being the pre-Olympic year, we decided not to take any risk. We will be playing the China Open and Korea Open in September," he added. It was in the Thailand Open that Chirag and Satwik marched ahead to climb newer heights and emerge triumphant from a draw in the summit clash. The mixed doubles pair of Pranav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy has, too, opted out of the World Championships, with the former unable to participate because of an injury. India's campaign at the BWF Championships suffered a big blow as the duo's withdrawals mean that India will not have any representation in mixed doubles with Satwiksairaj and Ashwini Ponnappa unable to compete as a pair as well. However, Sikki will play in women’s doubles events with bronze medallist Ashwini Ponnappa.