HYDERABAD (TIP): The Olympic silver medallist has pulled out of next week’s Japan Open Super Series. Sindhu was expected to face Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin in the quarterfinals in Tokyo. The lanky shuttler will also miss the Korea Open Super Series, scheduled to be held from September 27.
The 21-year-old will be back in action at the Denmark Open Super Series Premier, which begins at Odense on October 18. Disclosing this here, her coach Pullela Gopichand confirmed that Sindhu will not be travelling to Tokyo.
“She will be back for the Denmark Open. She will also compete in the French Open next month. We had to make some changes in her schedule,” Gopichand said.
Incidentally, Sindhu had reached the final of the Denmark Open last year. She downed Wang Yihan and Marin before losing to Li Xuerui in the summit clash. That was the best performance by Sindhu in a Super Series event.
Despite winning two bronze medals at the World Championships and Grand Prix Gold events, a Super Series title has eluded Sindhu so far. Soon after winning the silver at the Olympics, the star shuttler had said that her next goal is to win a Super Series title.After the October Super Series, the World No.10 Indian will also participate in the China Open Premier and Hong Kong Super Series in November. A good show here will help Sindhu to qualify for the Super Series Finals to be held in Dubai in December. Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth are the only Indians who have competed in the year-ending Finals.
Sindhu started training immediately after arriving from Rio. However, she had to attend many felicitation functions and did not get enough practice in the last one month. Moreover, her coach Gopichand is wary of exposing Sindhu so soon after the Olympics. “I know that there will be a lot of focus on Sindhu now. Other teams will be working on strategies to dominate her. We also should be ready to beat them,” Gopi said.
In Sindhu’s absence, Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian challenge.
Ajay Jayaram, Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy are the other Indians in men’s singles.