PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth withdraw from China Open 2023

Both the shuttlers put up a sub-par performance at BWF World Championships 2023

The two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and former World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth have withdrawn from the upcoming China Open 2023 competition. The shuttlers last participated at the BWF World Championships 2023 where both Sindhu and Srikanth lost in the opening encounters to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara and Kenta Nishimoto in the opening rounds respectively.

China Open 2023 is the one among the four BWF 1000 events held this year in the BWF World Tour calendar. The tournament provides a record prize money and also valuable rankings points in the Olympics 2024 qualification cycle. Also, several Asian players will be using this competition to gain momentum ahead of the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.

A total of 13 Indian players were initially slated to take part in the competition. With PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth withdrawing, both players will use the next few weeks wisely for the preparations to Asian Games. Sindhu in particular has had a disastrous season - reaching the final of only one BWF World Tour tournament - Spain Masters.

For the first time in over a decade, Sindhu went below the top 15 rankings mark but has once again crawled back and is currently positioned in the 14th spot of BWF World rankings. On the other hand, Kidambi Srikanth like Sindhu hasn't enjoyed much success and is yet to reach a final at the BWF tour this season. He is currently outside the top 16 for the road to Paris Olympics and needs to comeback to form in the upcoming tours.

Meanwhile, BWF World Championships 2023 bronze medalist, HS Prannoy will continue to lead the Indian contingent with Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat accompanying him in the men's singles department.