Badminton: Gayatri Gopichand to miss Uber Cup due to hip strain

Indian doubles player Gayatri Gopichand has pulled out of the upcoming Uber Cup Finals badminton tournament after being advised rest to recover from a strain in her hip joints.

The development was on Thursday confirmed to PTI by Badminton Association of India secretary Sanjay Mishra. The tournament is beginning in Bangkok on Sunday.

Gayatri, who plays women’s doubles with Treesa Jolly, has been in good form in recent times, producing a series of impressive performances at the international and domestic circuits.

She had skipped the Asia badminton championships as well due to the injury and absence has only compounded the Indian women team’s problems as the experienced pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa has already withdrawn from the tournament after the former suffered an abdomen tear.

Simran Singh and Ritika Thakkar, who had finished fourth in the ranking during the selection trials, were included by the selectors in the 10-member squad following Sikki’s injury.

But no replacement could be named for Gayatri since the extent of her injury came to light after the deadline for making any change to the squad was over.

Gayatri and Treesa had emerged as winners at the selection trials to make it to the Indian squad for the Commonwealth Games, Uber Cup and Asian Games.

The duo had reached the semifinals of All England Championships in March this year.

While Gayatri missed out, Treesa left for Bangkok along with the team on Wednesday. Besides Treesa, the other doubles players in the squad include Tanisha Crasto, Shruti Mishra, Simran and Ritika.

The singles players in the team include PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha, Unnati Hooda.

India are in Group D along side South Korea, Canada and the United States in Uber Cup Final.

Meanwhile, former top-10 player HS Prannoy also recovered from a “small injury” which had kept him away from the BAC to reach Bangkok for the Thomas Cup Final.