PV Sindhu withdraws from BWF World Tour Finals 2022; HS Prannoy lone Indian to compete

Sindhu, who won the inaugural BWF World Tour Finals in 2018, had sustained the injury earlier this year during her title winning run at the Commonwealth Games, forcing her to withdraw from the World Championships and few other events.

Now, Sindhu’s father PV Ramana has told news agency PTI that Sindhu needs more time to recover completely in time for the new season in 2023.

“Her doctor has advised her to take some more time so that she recovers completely ahead of the new season. She has discussed about the pros and cons but with so much restrictions in Guangzhou and also keeping new season in mind, she has taken this decision,” Sindhu’s father told PTI.

Sindhu, who has missed action from September this year, has started training and aims to be back in January as she has Asian Games and Paris 2024 on her mind.

“She has already started her training a couple of weeks back and by January she will be fully fit. So in view of all these reasons, she sent a mail to BAI informing about her decision,” Ramana added.

“She will need to be at her best for next year which will have Asian Games and also the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification, playing about 22 tournaments will be tough, so she is taking extra care.”

Sindhu’s withdrawal means HS Prannoy will be the lone Indian representative at the prestigious tournament, which is scheduled to be held in Guangzhou, China from December 14.

While Prannoy is ranked third in the Race to Guangzhou ranking, Kidambi Srikanth too has an outside chance if he does well at the Australian Open super 300 beginning in Sydney on Tuesday (November 15).

Lakshya Sen had also withdrawn from the Australia event due to a throat infection, while doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who also can’t make the Tour Finals, have pulled out of the Australian Open.

BWF Tour Finals sees the top eight players or pairs in the BWF World Tour standing of each discipline – men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles – compete for the title.