Liang, along with top names, out of OUE Open
Singapore's top women's singles shuttler Liang Xiaoyu has pulled out of the OUE Singapore Open, which starts today.
The 21-year-old world No. 24, who competed in the Rio Olympics, has been out of action since she injured her hip at the All-England Open last month, when she lost 21-16, 21-12 to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the first round.
National coach Chua Yong Joo said at the sidelines of the pre-tournament press conference yesterday: "Since our main target this year is the SEA (South-east Asia) Games, we don't want to rush her back and aggravate her injury further."
World No. 73 Yeo Jia Min could follow suit, after missing the press meet yesterday due to illness, and leave world No. 74 Grace Chua as the only Singaporean in the women's singles.
Liang was due to face Taiwan's Hsu Ya-ching in the main draw, while Yeo and Chua have to negotiate the qualifiers.
TOP NAMES WITHDRAW
A slew of top names withdrew from the US$350,000 (S$492,000) Badminton World Federation Superseries tournament yesterday.
Topping the list is men's singles Olympic champion Chen Long, who pulled out from the Malaysia Open semi-finals last week.
Also out of the OUE Open men's singles is Denmark's second seed Jan O Jorgensen, while India's Saina Nehwal is out of the women's singles.
Mixed doubles Olympic silver medallists Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying won't be participating either, and the same goes for Chinese world No. 1 pair Zheng Siwei and Chen Qingchen.
Chinese world No. 3 men's doubles tandem Chai Biao and Hong Wei have also withdrawn from the tournament, as well as Indonesian women's doubles world No. 10 duo Nitya Krishinda Maheswari and Greysia Polii.
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