India Open badminton, semifinals live: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag among those in action

ICYMI: Two-time Olympic Games medallist PV Sindhu features in Forbes’ top 10 highest-paid female athletes in the world, a list that is topped once again by tennis star Naomi Osaka.

Sindhu was ranked No 7, with total earnings of $7.2 million for 2021. She had previously feature in the list in 2018, also at No 7 with earnings of $8.5 million then.

01.35 pm: First things first, Covid-19 has continued to affect the India Open. After a slew of withdrawals (all Indian players) before the second round, two Russian players were withdrawn from the main draw ahead of their mixed doubles semifinal clash on Saturday.

Second seeded Russian mixed doubles player Rodion Alimov tested positive for the virus and was withdrawn from the $400,000 tournament. His mixed doubles partner Alina Davletova was also withdrawn after being identified as a close contact. Indonesian pair of Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan thus made it to the mixed doubles final after getting a walkover.

This happened around midnight on Friday.

Earlier today, Brian Yang was also listed as a walkover for the men’s singles semifinal. As per BAI sources, “Brian Yang complained of sore throat and bit of a headache in the morning. He said he is not feeling well and hence he has withdrawn. Yang though has tested negative for COVID -19. Loh Kean Yew therefore is through to the finals.”

For the third cancelled match of the day, the women’s doubles pair from Russia reportedly withdrew due to an injury.