Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023: Injured Satwiksairaj Rankireddy replaced by Dhruv Kapila

In a setback for India, seasoned doubles player Satwiksairaj Rankireddy pulled out of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023 to be held in Dubai from February 14. 

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy pulled his left hip adductor during the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament in January. Rankireddy and his partner Chirag Shetty have not competed on the BWF World Tour since then. 

Dhruv Kapila, world No. 24 in BWF Rankings in the men’s doubles, has replaced Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India’s best-ranked doubles pair at world No. 6, have been India’s most prolific duo in men’s doubles. 

The duo clinched India’s first world championships medal, a bronze, in the men’s doubles last year and played a huge role in India’s maiden Thomas Cup triumph. 

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also became India’s first men’s doubles champions at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and won several tournaments on the BWF World Tour in 2022. 

At the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead India’s challenge in the women’s singles while HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will lead India in men’s singles. 

The women’s doubles team of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly and the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro have also been selected in the Indian team for the tournament.

India have been slotted in Group B with Commonwealth Games champions Malaysia, hosts UAE and Kazakhstan. The Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships will conclude on February 19.