World Badminton Championships 2019: Carolina Marin withdraws after failing to recover from injury; HS Prannoy gets a spot

Defending champion Carolina Marin has withdrawn from the BWF World Championships to be held in Basel from 19-25 August after failing to recover completely from the knee injury she suffered during the Indonesia Masters final in January earlier this year. Marin underwent knee surgery on 29 January and had accepted the initial invitation to play in Basel. The Olympic champion felt that she could recover in time to defend her title, but the Spaniard posted a video message on Sunday explaining the reasons for a late withdrawal. “Me and my team has decided that we aren’t going to play the World Championship because we are very short of time. The recovery is going well and the knee is running well. So we will wait till the tournaments of September,” she said in the message.

No iremos al Mundial, pero el regreso está muy cerca 💪😉
We won't go to the World Championships, but the return is soon 💪😉 #Basel2019 pic.twitter.com/JnQCraB6Ez

— Carolina Marín (@CarolinaMarin) August 4, 2019

Just a few days ago, Marin had raised concerns over her participation at the World Championships and said she would take a call closer to the tournament as she focussed on getting fit for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol will replace Marin in the tournament. Meanwhile, HS Prannoy received a late call following the withdrawals from former world champion Viktor Axelsen and China’s Shi Yuqi. The other three Indian men’s singles players who have already qualified for the World Championship are Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma, and B Sai Praneeth. Denmark’s Axelsen withdrew from the World Championships citing a back injury while Shi suffered an ankle injury at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 event last month.