CHENNAI: EVEN before the start of the main draw of the 77th senior national squash championship in Chennai, there has been a big development as second seed Ramit Tandon has pulled out citing injury. Tandon, who is currently in the US, has injured his back in practice. The 27-year-old was supposed to fly out on Sunday with the main draw starting on February 12.
“Ramit has sent an email requesting his entry to be withdrawn. After consulting doctors and physios, he was told that there is a possibility of aggravating the injury if he takes a long flight. The unfortunate incident is a big blow for the tournament,” Cyrus Poncha, secretary-general of the Squash Rackets Federation of India said. However, Poncha revealed that injury is not a serious one.
Abhishek Pradhan of Maharashtra will come in as the second seed now. The nationals is also a selection trial for the Asian Team Championship scheduled in Kuala Lumpur from March 25th to 29th. The teams will be selected based on the performances in Chennai and the Professional Squash Association (PSA) ranking.
With Coronavirus already hampering many sports events, it remains to be seen if the event will take place in Kuala Lumpur. There are concerns on that front ass Malaysia officially registered its 17th confirmed case and it remains to be seen if the tournament will take place on the said date. According to a PSA press release, the Macau Open and the Perrier Challenge in Hong Kong have already been postponed. However, Poncha said that SRFI hasn’t received any official word regarding the tournament in Malaysia so far.