Stranded In Dubai, PV Sindhu Will Not Be Able To Play All England Championships

Double Olympic medallist and world champion PV Sindhu will not be able to participate in this year's All England Badminton Tournament. The All England Tournament is scheduled to be held in Birmingham from March 3 to 8. Because of the US-Iran conflict, PV Sindhu has been stuck in Dubai. She kept sharing updates about herself and other passengers on Instagram. Sindhu also said that the Dubai airport authorities and Emirates airlines have taken good care of her. Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra said, "We have been in constant touch with PV Sindhu. The first and most important thing is that she is safe there. But in the current situation, she will not be able to travel to Birmingham for the All England Tournament.

"But she will participate in the Swiss Open, which is scheduled between March 10 and 15."

He added that it is still difficult to say when the airspace will reopen, and whether Sindhu will travel directly to Switzerland from there or return to India first.

According to the Badminton Association of India, this uncertainty is the reason Sindhu withdrew her name from the All England Badminton Championship. The double Olympic medallist and five-time world championship medallist, including a gold, had recently shown signs of returning to form. In such a situation, this is a major setback for her and for Indian badminton.

Sindhu may be out of the All England event, but Sanjay Mishra said, "Look, apart from Sindhu, many other Indian players have already reached Birmingham. India will now be represented by the likes of Dhruv Kapila, Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor, Ritvika Shivani, Malvika Bansod, Unnati Hooda, Chirag Shetty, Satwik Reddy, Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and K Srikanth."

The Badminton Association of India expressed hope that Sindhu may be able to leave Dubai in the next two-three days. For now, Sindhu is completely fine both mentally and physically, and is bravely handling the difficult situation

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