PV Sindhu withdraws from World Championships; Here's Why

India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu has confirmed she won't be participating in the upcoming BWF World Championships.

Sindhu, who recently won Gold at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, revealed on Saturday that she had a stress fracture on her left foot. She also mentioned that she played the quarters, semis, and final fixtures at CWG 2022 with a lot of pain.

World Championships 2022 is scheduled to take place in Tokyo this year, starting from Aug. 21. The last time Sindhu played in the Japanese capital, she won her second Olympic medal. The Hyderabad player had won silver in women's singles at Tokyo Games 2020.

"While I am on the high of winning a Gold medal at the CWG for India, unfortunately, I have to pull out of the World Championships. I felt pain and there was an injury scare at the quarter-finals of the CWG, but with the help of my coach, physio, and trainer, I decided to push as far as I could," Sindhu wrote in a tweet.

Sindhu, who has won five medals at the World Championships, including Gold, two Silver, and two Bronze.

"The pain was unbearable during and post the finals. Hence I rushed for an MRI scan as soon as I got back to Hyderabad. The doctors confirmed a stress fracture on my left foot and recommended bed rest for a few weeks. I should be back to training in a few weeks," Sindhu, who won Gold in the 2019 edition of the World Championships, added further.

Earlier this week, Sindhu was seen playing with tape on her left leg during the women's singles final against Canada's Michelle Li at the CWG 2022. The Indian ace battled through the pain to emerge as the winner and take her overall CWG medals tally to five. Despite the injury, Sindhu pulled off a straight-game victory 21-15, 21-13 in the Gold medal game.

Reacting to her Gold medal and overall Indian contingent's performance at CWG, Sindhu recently said in an interview that she has "a lot more to achieve," and she hopes to see India win more medals at Paris Olympics in 2024.

"There is a lot more for me to achieve. This is just the starting. I am learning a lot more. I feel I can win a lot more. It is not going to be easy, but I want to achieve a lot more. Top ten players currently are of the same standard. We cannot take any match lightly.

"If you see the CWG, we have some really good medals. I am sure there will be a lot more medals, we are doing well. You can see the improvement. I am hoping that we win more medals at Paris Olympics," added Sindhu.