Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pull out of India Open to prepare for Olympic qualification

With an aim of getting fully fit and achieve top form, the Indian doubles pair has withdrawn from the upcoming BWF event so that they can prepare well for the Olympic qualifiers. As Rankireddy sustained a shoulder injury late last year, the pair didn’t participate in the tournaments in Malaysia, Indonesia and All England. Both Rankireddy and Shetty had a plan to start the season with the India Open, however, they have taken back their names now after consulting the physio. 

“The Olympic qualification begins next month and we need to be in our absolute best to pursue our dreams of making the cut for the Tokyo Games. So we will be beginning our season with the New Zealand Open World Tour Super 300. There is Sudirman Cup and Australia Open next, so in a month’s time we will play three tournaments, so we will be focusing on that now.”

“Before PBL, I had suffered a shoulder injury during training. I didn’t know it was so serious. I played PBL and it aggravated. I came to know later that it was a hairline fracture. So I missed the Nationals and All England,” Rankireddy said.

“But I’m just happy that I can achieve fitness and start playing before the Olympic qualification kicks in late April.”

“The sessions are pretty tough. In a month’s time we will get used to it. The Indonesian training is lot different,” Shetty explained.

“The focus is to achieve agility, he wants us to be more fit and move faster on court, so lots of on-court sessions and less time in gym. There is also multi-feed training two times a week.”