Australian Open Badminton: Non-participation of Team India and schedule
The Australian Open, originally an international open, became a Super Series event after a few upgrades. As of now, it is a Super 300 event of the BWF World Tour
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk Kidambi Srikanth has withdrawn from Australian OpenIt started on November 15 and is set to conclude on November 20. Among many, well-known Indian shuttlers like PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and the dynamic duo of Satwik-Chirag have skipped the tournament.
Top player Kidambi Srikanth has also withdrawn from the USD 180,000 tournament. The current 10th-ranked player in the race to Guanzhou rankings, Kidambi Srikanth, needed to win Australian Open to qualify for the season-ending World Tour Final in December.
The bronze medal winner at the Commonwealth Games was a semi-finalist in his last tournament at Hylo Open in Germany. He also advanced to the semi-finals at Korea Open and the Swiss Open.
Likewise, India's Sameer Verma and Mithun Manjunath, who was listed in the Men's draw Singles in the Australian Open, have withdrawn from the tournament.
Sameer Verma was returning after a lengthy injury lay-off. He was ready to start his campaign against Australia's Nathan Tang, but he pulled out at the last moment.
Former number 11 Sameer Verma has BWF tournaments — Swiss Open, Hyderabad Open, and Syed Modi International - under his belt. He carried his impeccable momentum into the World Tour Finals in 2018 but lost his mojo.
He made a brief comeback in 2021 and retired from the Denmark Open quarterfinals with a calf injury. He showed a glimpse of his former self at the French Open 2022 during his three-game win over world number eight Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
On the other hand, Mithun Manjunath was set to face second seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the first round of the Australian Open. However, he also pulled out of the tournament.
The only Indian players in the event, Tanya Hemanth and Anwesha Gowda, who started their campaigns on Wednesday, crashed out of the event.
India's Australian Open 2022 campaign ends
On Thursday, Anwesha Gowda was defeated in the women's singles round of 16. The 14-year-old is currently in the top 10 in junior rankings but lost 7-21, 13-21 against former junior world champion Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia.
In the previous round, Anwesha Gowda had outclassed Australia's Pitchaya Elysia Viravong 21-9 21-11. Meanwhile, Tanya Hemanth was defeated by Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei 21-15 21-16 in the round of 32.
The Panda sisters – Rutaparna and Swetaparna – couldn't overcome Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun. They lost in straight sets, 16-21, 14-21.
The Australian Open is the last of the BWF World Tour events before the season-ending tournament.
Schedule for Australian Open 2022
Qualification and First Round: Tuesday and Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Second Round: Thursday, November 17, 2022
Quarterfinals: Friday, November 18, 2022
Semi-finals: Saturday, November 19, 2022
Finals: Sunday, November 20, 2022