National badminton player Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin has decided to forego his chances of featuring in the Badminton Asia Championships as he is not fully recovered from his injury.
The 26 year-old shuttler suffered a painful back injury during preparations for the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold in January and he was forced to race against time to reach full fitness in order to participate, but he will have to wait another year to take part in China.
Iskandar Zulkarnain had only a glimmer of hope to recover before the tournament began because he has been unable to move freely since the injury occurred in Sibu, Sarawak.
“For your information, I will not take part in the tournament in Wuhan. I have actually known for a while know and I feel like I am only 80% fit,” he said as quoted by Kosmo Online.
This would mean that this is the fourth tournament that Iskandar Zulkarnain will not take part in this year, after already failing to recover in time for the All England Championships, Malaysia Open and the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships over the past months.
“I have not played for three months, and now I need to focus on my rehabilitation.
“To be honest, I have no idea when I will be able to return. I have talked to my coaches and they have set the Thailand Open as the most realistic target,” Iskandar concluded.
The Kuala Lumpur-born player is currently ranked 33rd in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) world rankings and is a former world junior championship runner-up.
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