Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have pulled out of the upcoming Badminton World Championship owing to injuries. "Satwik's shoulder injury which he suffered at Thailand Open didn't heal as quickly as we expected, and I also had pulled up my abs during the semifinals, so we decided to skip the World Championship," Chirag told PTI.
Earlier this month, the Indian duo had become the first men's doubles pair from the country to win a BWF Super 500-and-above title when they won the Thailand Open, a win that helped them break into the world top-10 rankings.
It was decided that they wouldn't risk aggravation by participating in the World Championships, which are scheduled to begin from August 19 in Basel, Switzerland.
"We spoke to the coaches and physio and they said if we play then it can aggravate and we might miss out a month or two. So being the pre-olympic year, we decided not to take any risk," said Chirag.
"We will be playing the China Open and Korea Open in September," he added.