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HS Prannoy wins as Covid, injuries hit Syed Modi badminton
India Open men's champion Lakshya Sen pulled out due to exhaustion while PV Sindhu's opening game was moved to Wednesday
After Covid positives and withdrawals marred last week’s India Open, the Syed Modi International Badminton Tournament here began on Tuesday with a spate of positive tests, withdrawals and the postponement of double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s match by a day due to a pending RT-PCR test report.
The field in the World Tour Super 300 event is depleted after Lakshya Sen, who won the India Open after defeating world champion Loh Kean Yew in the final, pulled out citing exhaustion after a packed schedule since October, which includes a bronze at the world championships in Spain last month.
Saina Nehwal and husband P Kashyap, twice former champion here, have skipped the $150,000 event along with the India Open men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. World championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth too is absent having tested positive at the India Open.
The Indian players who tested positive on Tuesday include India’s Rahul Yadav Chittabonia, Ashmita Chaliha, Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra.
HS Prannoy entered the men’s singles second round, the fifth-seed taking just 36 minutes to beat Ukraine’s Danylo Bosniuk 21-14, 2-18. Prannoy, who lost to Sen in the India Open quarterfinals, will next meet compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat, who got a first-round walkover from Chittabonia.
Fourth seed Sameer Verma retired while trailing 2-7 against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen in the first game due to a calf muscle injury. A two-time former champion here, he had retired in the second round at the India Open due to the problem which first surfaced in October.
Subhankar Dey also retired due to injury against compatriot Kartikey Gulshan Kumar while trailing 2-9 in the opening game.
In women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha gave a walkover to Malvika Bansod. Aakarshi Kashyap beat Mugdha Agrey 21-13, 21-14 and Anupama Upadhyaya defeated Rituparna Das 21-7, 21-10.
“It was a tough first day for us as things were difficult to handle. We could start the match only after going through the RT-PCR and Antigen tests of the participants here,” said a tournament official. “Even the manager’s meet last evening was delayed after a key official tested positive for Covid.”
