Satwik’s shoulder injury resurfaces as Sat-Chi retire from Japan Open first round
Injury haunted Satwiksairaj Rankireddy once again, forcing him and Chirag Shetty to withdraw midway through the first round of the Japan Open. The star Indian duo decided to walk off the court after the opening game of the match, which they lost 19-21 to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard.
Satwik’s camp told India Today that they will skip the Super 1000 tournament in China and head straight into the BWF World Championships, set to be held in India in August.
The shoulder injury has troubled Satwiksairaj Rankireddy multiple times this year. In March, they were forced to withdraw from the Swiss Open. In April, they pulled out of the Badminton Asia Championships, and in June, the Indonesia Open.
In the middle of the injury crisis, Satwik-Chirag won bronze at the Thomas Cup and followed it up with a title win in Singapore in May. The Singapore Open triumph brought an end to the two-year title drought they had endured on the tour.
The recurring injury is expected to force Satwiksairaj Rankireddy onto the sidelines. He will next compete with Chirag in the BWF World Championships before heading directly to the Asian Games, set to be held in Japan in September and October. Satwik-Chirag will enter the Asian Games as the defending champions.
JAPAN OPEN: SINDHU BREEZES INTO 2ND ROUND
While Satwik-Chirag’s campaign ended on Tuesday, July 14, star shuttler PV Sindhu eased into the second round of the competition.
She beat Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching in a compact performance. The World No. 10 won 21-14, 21-11 against the world No. 37.
Sindhu controlled the proceedings from the outset, dictating the pace of the rallies to open up a 7-4 lead. Although Wong attempted to stay in touch, her unforced errors allowed the Indian to steadily pull away and take an 11-6 advantage at the mid-game interval.
The Indian ace looked comfortable in the rallies, mixing up her strokes effectively to extend her lead to 14-9. Her backhand net dribbles, deft drops and well-disguised half-smashes came off with precision.
While there were stray errors, including a long toss and a wide cross-court net shot from the Indian, Wong failed to make the most of those opportunities.
A straight smash earned Sindhu seven game points, and she wrapped up the opening game at the second attempt.
Sindhu resumed in similar fashion after the change of ends, racing to an 8-2 lead before taking an 11-3 cushion at the interval.
The gap only widened thereafter as Wong continued to struggle with her accuracy, allowing Sindhu to surge to a 16-5 lead. The Malaysian briefly strung together three points before another error handed the initiative back to the Indian.
A smash into the net from Wong gave Sindhu 10 match points. The Indian squandered the first with a long return before Wong found the net on the next point to hand Sindhu a comfortable straight-games victory.
JAPAN OPEN: OTHER RESULTS
Barring those two results, India had a mixed outing on the opening day of the Japan Open Super 750.
Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the second round after defeating Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Julie Macpherson 21-16, 21-14 in their mixed doubles opener.
However, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde bowed out in the opening round after losing 11-21, 10-21 to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping of China.
Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun, playing India’s last match of the day, went down in three sets against Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in men’s doubles.
– Ends
