PETALING JAYA: Chinese women’s singles star Chen Yufei (pic) will make a long-awaited return to competitions in the Asia Mixed Team Championships but there was misfortune for India’s P. V. Sindhu after she was forced out of the event due to injury.
Yufei took a break from badminton after suffering a surprise defeat to teammate He Bingjiao in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympics last August.
The 2020 Tokyo Games gold medallist felt that she needed some time away to rediscover her love for the sport.
Yufei, who studied English in Australia for 10 weeks during her break, is now refreshed and ready to make her return.
The 26-year-old is keen to use the Asia team meet which kicks off today in Qingdao, China as warm-up for the All-England from March 11-16 in Birmingham.
“I’ve missed playing badminton. Watching everyone compete at the World Tour Finals (last December) made me want to get back on court,” said Yufei in an interview with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
“I’m 26 and have only ever played badminton. I wanted to try something different, but now I’m ready to focus on my career again.”
Yufei has a big role to play for the hosts in the team event as she and women’s doubles ace Chen Qingchen are the only senior players selected in the team.
Defending champions China have instead opted to give some of their brightest young talents including 2024 World junior boys and girls’ singles champions Hu Zhean and Xu Wenjing an opportunity in the tournament.
China will take on Taiwan and Singapore in Group A.
Meanwhile, India will have to make do without their top women’s singles player Sindhu after she had to withdraw from the event due to a hamstring issue.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share I won’t be travelling with the team for the Asia mixed team meet,” said Sindhu via social media.
“I felt a twinge in my hamstring during training. Despite my efforts to push through with heavy taping for my country, a scan has revealed that my recovery will take slightly longer than I initially expected.”
While Sindhu’s absence is a blow for India, the team still have their top stars Lakshya Sen, H. S. Prannoy (men’s singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (men’s doubles) and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand (women’s doubles) in their ranks.
India have been placed in Group D along with South Korea and Macau.
