Viktor Axelsen withdraws from Indonesia Masters
The tournament's defending champion and top seed pulls out citing fitness as an issue after losing the India Open final on Sunday.
Badminton
Viktor Axelsen will not be competing at this week's Indonesia Masters due to fatigue, badminton's world No. 1 said via Twitter.
Axelsen was the top seed and defending champion of the tournament in Jakarta starting on Tuesday (24 January). The Dane had been drawn against Lu Guang Zu in the first round.
"I will unfortunately not be going to Indonesia next week", Axelsen said in a post on late Sunday evening after losing to Thailand's Kunlavut Vitidsarn in three games in the India Open final.
"I had been looking forward to play in Istora in front of the amazing (Indonesia) badminton fans as always, but my body is not ready for another week of competition".
The reigning Olympic and world champion and Player of the Year had won a phenomenal 13 straight finals going into Sunday, including the Malaysia Open the week before.
His last defeat in a final dated back to the 2021 All England Open Championships against Lee Zii Jia.
Axelsen did not say when his next competiton would be. He is not in the entry list for next week's Thailand Masters.
“This is competitive badminton. Even though I’ve done well in the last many finals, you cannot expect that I keep winning and winning and winning – that’s not how it works", he said in post-match comments.
"I try to do my best every time, but unfortunately today wasn’t my time, it was Kunlavut’s time”.