HS Prannoy hopes for change in venue of World Tour Finals amidst covid-19 rise in China

Ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy has expressed his reservations over competing in the prestigious badminton season ender - the World Tour Finals, at Guangzhou, China later this year.

Prannoy, who is currently second in the Race to Guangzhou Rankings, has qualified for his first-ever appearance at the World Tour Finals this year. The 30-year-old is, however, worried about playing the tournament in China, because of the rising covid-19 cases in the country.

A majority of these sudden rise in infections have been reported from the 2022 World Tour Finals host city - Guangzhou. As per reports, Guangzhou is now the epicenter of covid-19 in the country with a third of the total infections being reported from there.

Prannoy revealed that he his hoping for a change in venue for the World Tour Finals via a tweet.

"The situation does not look great. I am still hoping there would be a change of venue for the World Tour Finals," he wrote while retweeting a report which stated that Badminton Malaysia might pull out their players from the tournament due to covid-19 concerns.

Meanwhile the Badminton World Federation (BWF) had, on Sunday, released a strict set of rules to be followed during the tournament to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

The Badminton World Tour Finals is set to be held in Guangzhou from 1st to 5th December 2022.