BWF World Championship | HS Prannoy awarded spot following injuries to Viktor Axelsen and Shi Yuqi

Past world champion Viktor Axelsen has announced his decision to stay on the sidelines for the BWF World Championships as he recovers from a back injury. China’s Shi Yuqi also withdrew from the tournament having sustained an ankle injury last month at an Indonesia Open Super 1000 event.

This has led to a spot opening up for Indian HS Prannoy as the 27-year-old is set to become the fourth player from the country to be in the running for the title after Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma and B Sai Praneeth had already qualified for the mega event.

In other news, last edition’s winner Carolina Marin released a video message on her social media platforms to declare that she won’t be able to participate in the Championship. She had undergone a knee surgery earlier in the year after having suffered the injury at the Indonesia Masters in January.

She was projected to recover in time for the tournament and had hence accepted the invitation initially. However, with the Olympics coming up next year in Tokyo, the former world number one has decided not to rush into things and wait to be 100 percent fit. 

“Me and my team has decided that we aren’t going to play the World Championship because we are very short of time. The recovery is going well and the knee is running well. So we will wait till the tournaments of September,” she said in the message, reported Scroll.in.

She will be replaced by Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol at the competition scheduled to be held from August 19 to August 25 in Basel, Switzerland.