One of India’s rising talents Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of Pullela Gopichand will, unfortunately, miss the Uber Cup due to injury. She has suffered a strain in the hip joint and she is advised to rest therefore missing out on the Uber Cup action. Gayatri is going through a tough time it seems as she also missed out on the Asian Badminton Championship last month
Gayatri’s withdrawal from the tournament means her doubles partner Teresa Jolly will also be out of action from the prestigious tournament. They will now become the second Indian pair to pull out of the Uber Cup after N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa had to withdraw from the event due to an injury to N Sikki Reddy.
Sikki Reddy has suffered an abdominal muscle teat and will be out for six weeks increasing India’s misery even further. While she will recuperate and hence miss the Uber Cup, it remains to be seen if she will be fit enough for the Asian Games as it is definitely a race against time and these injuries take time and then there is the question of match fitness aswell.
Coming back to Gayatri Gopichand, the Badminton Association of India could not name a replacement in place for the Women’s duo as the deadline for making tweaks have passed and her injury was found out after that. So it is rather unfortunate for India as one of their in-form doubles parking will not be participating in the prestigious Uber Cup.
Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were in good form and their performances in the last few events were noteworthy. The duo reached the semi-finals at the All England Championship earlier this year. They won the trials organised by the Badminton Association of India for selection of the Indian team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and the Thomas and Uber Cup. So missing them in the Uber Cup will be a significant blow for the Indian team.
BAI earlier announced the women’s pairing of Simran Singh and Ritika Thakkar as the replacement of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa. Simran and Ritika came fourth in the trials and now have a chance to show their credentials at the Uber Cup.
