New Delhi,sep 2
World Champion PV Sindhu has decided to skip the Uber Cup, in Aarhus, Denmark starting from Oct 3-11. The prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup Finals is supposed to restart international badminton after a gap of six months. Sindhu, however, will send her entry for the two Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 750 Tour events in Odense, Denmark, scheduled after the Thomas/Uber Cup competition in successive weeks, informed Sindhu’s father PV Ramana on Wednesday. “She will skip the Uber Cup because of personal reasons. As of now, she will send her entry for the next two tournaments and decide based on the situation,” said Ramana.It has only been a month since Sindhu, along with Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth and Sikki Reddy started training at the Gopichand academy. The players have not got enough time to return to full physical fitness. BWF plans to restart the tour with three tournaments in Denmark before transporting the players – possibly in a chartered flight — to a venue in Asia for two more tournaments and year-end Tour Finals. The players will have to remain in a bio-secure bubble for eight weeks, of which six weeks will be of competition period. India are clubbed with China, France and Germany in the Uber Cup draw. Sixteen teams each are scheduled to participate in men’s and women’s team championships, leading to large contingents gathering for the tournament. BWF has issued stringent safety protocols for the competition.The Indian contingent will have 10 men and women players each. However, the ongoing elite national camp in Hyderabad includes only eight elite players out of which four – Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Sikki Reddy—have joined. Ashwini Ponnappa is training at the Padukone academy in Bengaluru and Chirag at Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai. Satwik, who tested positive for COVID last week, is at his home in Amalapuram. It leaves the Badminton Federation of India to select a team for Thomas and Uber Cup – 10 players each in men and women – entirely on world rankings.World championships bronze medallist Praneeth will also prefer to increase his workload gradually. “We started training after a long break. The body takes time to adapt to condition and take the load. Priority is to achieve fitness. Also, we have to wait and see the travel plans. There are a lot of things to decide. If I am fit to play I will go. I will have more clarity in next two weeks.”
