HS Prannoy withdraws from Badminton Asia Championships due to injury; Gayatri-Treesa pull out

After a strenuous grind during the European leg of the BWF tour, HS Prannoy has decided to withdraw from the Badminton Asia Championships 2022 that is due to begin on 26th April in Manila, Phillippines, citing injury woes.

The World No. 23 shuttler played at the Korea Open Super 500 last but could not deliver a good show and lost his opening round match against Cheam June Wei, 21-17, 21-7.

However, during the European tour in March, Prannoy was in good form and went till the quarters of the German Open 2022 and finished with a silver medal from the Swiss Open Super 300, as well, losing to Indonesia's Jonatan Christie in the final encounter, 21-12, 21-18.

Taking to his social media to announce the news of his withdrawal, Prannoy mentioned that he suffered a 'small injury' during the Swiss Open and has hence decided to sit out the Manila event and instead focus on training for the upcoming Thomas Cup Finals that will begin from 8th May in Bangkok, Thailand.

Other than Prannoy, even the veteran doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will be giving the Badminton Asia Championships a miss after Sikki Reddy suffered an injury during the BAI Selection Trials in New Delhi. They will also be missing the Uber Cup Finals.

In a further blow to women's doubles, the up and coming women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will also not be playing at the Badminton Asia Championships and have been withdrawn.

Notably, HS Prannoy was given an exception and included in the Indian squad for the upcoming team events - Thomas Cup, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, by virtue of how the 29-year-old has performed in 2022 and didn't have to compete in the BAI Selection Trials despite his ranking being outside the required criteria.

Currently, the Badminton Asia Championships squad has Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and B.Sai Praneeth in the men's singles fray and they will begin their campaign on 26th April.