Thomas and Uber Cup: PV Sindhu agrees to play, Thailand pulls out tournament
Shuttler PV Sindhu would most likely be participating in the upcoming Thomas Uber Cup, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the President of Badminton Association of India (BAI) confirmed on Monday.
Thomas and Uber Cup , BWF Twitter
Shuttler PV Sindhu would most likely be participating in the upcoming Thomas Uber Cup, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the President of Badminton Association of India (BAI) confirmed on Monday.
Earlier, Sindhu had decided to opt-out of the tournament due to personal reasons, but now on the request of Sarma, she has agreed to feature in the Thomas Uber Cup.
"I have requested @Pvsindhu1 to join the team as we have a favourable draw and have the best chance to take a shot at a medal at the #ThomasUberCup. She has agreed and will prepone her family function so that she can be part of the Indian Team and play for the country @BAI_Media," Sarma tweeted.
The 2020 Thomas and Uber Cup is scheduled to be held from October 3 to 11 in Aarhus, Denmark.
The World Champion shuttler returned to training last month with the start of the national camp for eight Olympic-bound athletes at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad.
On Saturday, during an Instagram live session on the Bank of Baroda's official account, Sindhu revealed that her father inspired her to take up sports. On being asked about her inspiration she said: "Dad inspired me to play sports when I took up badminton he never questioned my choice.
"When asked "which alternate career would you have chosen", Sindhu replied that as a child she wanted to be a doctor, but now she thinks badminton is better.
Thailand opt-out due to COVID-19 issues:
The Thailand contingent was forced to pull out of next month's Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Denmark due to a combination of COVID-19 related issues and injuries, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Monday.
Thailand, who were placed in Group D of the men's Thomas Cup and Group C of the women's Uber Cup, are the third country to opt-out after Chinese Taipei and Australia.
"Badminton Association of Thailand cited special circumstances related to COVID-19 in addition to injuries to key players in making the decision," BWF said in a statement without elaborating on the issues.
The BWF added that the tournament will go ahead as scheduled in a 'bubble' in Aarhus from Oct. 3-11, with the replacements yet to be announced.
The biennial international tournament, originally scheduled to take place in May, had initially been postponed to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being moved to the new dates when the Danish government extended its ban on large gatherings.
(Agency inputs)