Kidambi Srikanth pulls out of China Open, World No. 1 dream in jeopardy

New Delhi: Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth's dream of becoming world number one badminton player received a blow

World No. 2 men's singles player Kidambi Srikanth has pulled out of the China Open Super Series Premier, beginning in Fuzhou on November 14, due to a leg injury he sustained during the recent Senior National Badminton Championships in Nagpur.

Srikanth lost the gruelling three-game final to HS Prannoy on Wednesday (November 8).

By pulling out of the tournament, which he won in 2014, the 24-year-old lost his chance to become the world No.1 before the end of this month. Srikanth (73403) is 4527 points behind top-ranked Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.

A win in China would have been enough for him to beat Axelsen in the BWF rankings.

"I am pulling out of China Open (November 14-19). It is a muscle strain and doctor advised me to take rest for one week. It happened in the Nationals but because I kept playing it got a little worse. But I should be ok in a week," Srikanth told PTI today.

He is expected to return at the Hong Kong Super Series (November 21 – 26), where he will once again have the chance to reach the World No. 1.

The Indian sensation achieved the career-best ranking of 2 on November 3, after a fantastic run of form this year, in which has won four Super Series titles in five finals.

He thus joined the legends Lin Dan (China), Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) and Chen Long (China) as only the fourth player in the history to achieve this feat a calendar year.