Srikanth pulls out of China Open and Korea Open due to knee injury

Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on Friday pulled out of the upcoming tournaments in China and Korea, owing to a knee injury that flared up after the World Championship last month.

The China Open World Tour Super 1000 is scheduled to be held at Changzhou from September 17 to 22, followed by Korea Open World Tour Super 500 (September 24 to 29) at Incheon City.

"Tough times. Will not be playing in the upcoming #ChinaOpen and #KoreaOpen due to knee injury. Hope to recover quick and get back in action soon!," he wrote on his twitter handle.

Srikanth, who had reached the finals at India Open early in the year, had suffered a knee injury just ahead of the Sudirman Cup in May. He recovered to play in Indonesia, Japan and Thailand before featuring at the World Championships.

The 26-year-old from Guntur had lost to lower-ranked Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the round of 16 at the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland last month.

"After the World Championships, he couldn't train .