NEW DELHI – The India Open badminton championship in New Delhi continues to be bugged by health and fitness issues when two pairs were forced to concede walkovers in their title showdowns today.
In the day’s first match, Chinese pair Wang Yi Lyu-Huang Dong Ping were forced to withdraw from the mixed doubles final against Japan’s Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino when Yi Lyu fell ill.
The second blow came in the women’s doubles final when China’s Chen Qing Chen-Jia Yi Fan conceded a walkover after suffering from diarrhoea, leaving Japan’s Nami Matsuyama-Chiharu Shida to be declared as winners.
The spate of pullouts began on Wednesday when Malaysia’s professional men’s singles shuttler Liew Daren was forced to retire from his match against Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus also due to an injury
A day later, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty withdrew from their men’s doubles clash against China’s Liu Yu Chen-Ou Xuan Yi after Rankireddy suffered a hip injury.
On Friday, Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Chen Yu Fei of China pulled out of her women’s singles quarter-final against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong due to an illness. – Bernama, January 22, 2023
