India Open: Kidambi Srikanth among seven forced out by Covid-19
Kidambi Srikanth knew that the India Open would be his best chance of winning a title since 2017. Having claimed the World Championship silver last month, the former world No.1 was quietly confident. Form, momentum, home advantage, top billing, a weak field—it was the perfect recipe for him to strike gold at the $400,000 event here being held after two years due to the pandemic.
But it was not to be.
Planning for his second round match against Danish Kim Bruun just before going to bed on Wednesday night, the world No.10 was informed that he had tested positive for Covid-19, forcing him to immediately withdraw from the Super 500 tournament being held at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.
“It is with a heavy heart I have to announce my withdrawal from India Open 2022. In spite of being very conscious of my surroundings, I have tested positive for Covid-19,” said Srikanth, winner of the competition in 2015. “I feel fine and my symptoms are very mild.”
He was not the only one. Six other Indians—Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Thaker, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta—tested positive resulting in the cancellation of 11 second round matches, two singles and nine doubles, on Thursday.
“Badminton World Federation (BWF) can confirm that seven players have been withdrawn from the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2022 after testing positive for Covid-19. The players returned a positive result to a mandatory RT-PCR test conducted on Tuesday,” the BWF said in a statement.
“Doubles partners deemed close contact of the seven players have also been withdrawn from the tournament. The players will not be replaced in the main draw and their opponents will be given a walkover to the next round.”
As a result, eight others—Dhruv Kapila, N Sikki Reddy, Akshan Shetty, Utkarsh Arora, K Sai Pratheek, P Gayatri Gopichand, Kavya Gupta and MR Arjun—were also forced to pull out.
Among those who have had to leave, five —Srikanth (men’s singles No.1); Arjun/Kapila (men’s doubles No.6); Ponnappa/Reddy (women’s doubles No.2); Jolly/Gayatri (No.7) and Kapila/Reddy (mixed doubles No.7)—were seeded entries.
“What can you do under the circumstances? Nothing. The players are all asymptomatic. Let’s see how long these people will take to recover. There is another tournament the following week,” said national selector and former chief national coach U Vimal Kumar.
A depleted field meant this would also be a chance for Indians to accumulate ranking points but the latest forced exits were a massive dampener for the season’s first event which had already been hit by withdrawals. Nine of the world’s top-10 players in both men’s and women’s singles—except Srikanth and world No.7 PV Sindhu—had pulled out.
Men’s singles second seed B Sai Praneeth and doubles specialist Dhruv Rawat had tested positive on Sunday before travelling to New Delhi from Hyderabad and Bengaluru respectively. This was followed by men’s doubles fifth seeds B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri along with men’s singles fourth seed Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand pulling out on Monday.
India’s top doubles specialist Chirag Shetty, who partners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, had tested positive on Sunday but was given the go-ahead on presenting a negative certificate on Monday.
In the women’s section, Indonesian eighth seed Fitriani, compatriot Yulia Yosephine Susanto, Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi and American seventh seed Iris Wang also stayed away. In doubles, Thai top seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Projongjai chose not to travel to India along with most French, Russian and Canadian shuttlers. The entire English contingent withdrew last week after a couple of their squad members tested positive in London.
The withdrawals could have a ripple effect on the $150,000 Syed Modi India International (Super 300) in Lucknow and the new $75,000 Odisha Open (Super 100) in Cuttack scheduled in the next two weeks. “I am surely disappointed to leave this without a fight but I realise it’s more important for myself and others to recover responsibly to come back stronger for the tournaments to follow,” said Srikanth.
Traditionally held in the March-April window, the tournament was advanced following a rejig of the calendar. Europeans usually do not travel at this of the year and that too had led to some names missing. Also, the last couple of months of 2021 also saw tournaments held in successive weeks, leaving players wanting a break.
Despite trepidation, surge in cases and restrictions, the country’s biggest badminton tournament—being held behind closed doors—started as scheduled on Tuesday with the backing of players—already starved of tournaments in India—and officials.
Players are being tested regularly—rapid antigen before the entering the stadium and RT-PCR at the hotel. “Testing protocols have been implemented in accordance with BWF and Badminton Association of India guidelines to ensure the health and safety of all participants,” BWF stated.
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