French Open 2023: PV Sindhu retires mid-match after left knee injury; Satwik-Chirag bow out in three games | Badminton News
Despite leading in her round of 16 match against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong, PV Sindhu retired hurt due to an issue with her left knee at the Frence Open Super 750 tournament in Rennes on Thursday. It was also the end of the campaign for defending champions and world No 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as they lost 23-25 21-19 19-21 in a thriller against Indonesian legends Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
Sindhu took the call to stop the match with the scoreline at 21-18 1-1 in what is perhaps the first time she has retired mid-match in her career so far, as per information available on BadmintonStatics.
After her opening-round win against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, where she had to dig deep after losing the first game, Sindhu had said she was running on fumes towards the end of the match. The Indian had returned to the top 10 in the world this week after a less-than-ideal start to the season, on the back of consecutive semifinal appearances in Finland and Denmark.
Satwik-Chirag’s run at #FrenchOpen2023 cut short The Daddies.
📸: @badmintonphoto#FrenchOpenSuper750#Badminton pic.twitter.com/M6lcwj1qSQ
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) October 26, 2023
“Tough decision to withdraw,” Sindhu posted on social media after the match. “In the first set, I felt something wrong in my left knee but chose to continue to play. However, the pain started to linger. I retired from the game because I felt that retiring was a wise decision to take a closer look at my knee and have my physio examine it.” Most Read
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“I have always taken pride in my career to use minimal medical breaks or injury timeouts. However, I chose to respect my body. Please don’t reach out asking for an update as I don’t have any right now.”
Later in the day, Chirag and Satwik – playing their first tournament as world No 1 after skipping Denmark Open last week – were involved in an epic duel against their idols, known as the Daddies on the circuit. The Indians fought hard in the opening game from 13-18 down and saved four game points but Ahsan and Setiawan took the lead 25-23. The second game went to Chirag and Satwik and they had a 10-7 lead in the decider as well before the former World No 1 pair turned things around.
Defeats for Sindhu and Satwik-Chirag marked the end of India’s contention at the tournament.
