PV Sindhu has further delayed her plans to return to competitive badminton. The reigning World Champion, who was eyeing a comeback with the Uber Cup, has opted out of the Women’s Team Championships.
The Badminton World Federation has scheduled the men’s and women’s international team championships for Thomas Cup and Uber Cup from October October 3 to 11 in Aarhus (Denmark).
India’s top-ranked women shuttler, who has been training at the national camp in Hyderabad, has reportedly conveyed her decision to the Badminton Association of India.
“Sindhu has informed the Badminton Association of India about her decision to skip the event because of some personal reasons,” national daily The Hindu has quoted a BAI official as saying.
Sindhu’s original plan to return to competitive sport was through the Thomas and Uber Cups. She has been extra cautious post the pandemic having separate training sessions at the SAI-Gopi Chand Academy here daily under the supervision of Korean coach Park Tae-Sang with chief national coach P. Gopi Chand also having a close look at the sessions.
Sindhu had been training with Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth at the national camp, being run for the eight probables for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Saina Nehwal did not join the camp under protest after her husband and training partner P Kashyap was omitted from the campers list. She has been training separately with the former Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap.
BWF will ensure strict COVID-19 safety measures for the Thomas and Uber Cup competitions. BWF Secretary General Thomas Lund insisted on the safety measures in place for all concerned. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not possible to implement the revised international tournament calendar for the HSBC BWF World Tour as originally envisaged. Managing travel logistics between different territories where different entry and safety restrictions apply has been the biggest challenge for us. Therefore, an adjusted tournament calendar had to be developed,” BWF secretary-general Thomas Lund said in a statement.
“Our main concern has always been the health and safety of all participants and we have created a BWF Safety Protocols and Operating Procedures document to guide us in this process. We look forward to the return of international badminton. In light of the exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in, an adjusted tournament calendar has been developed to replace the present HSBC BWF World Tour tournament locations and dates,” he added.