A big dash to India’s badminton hopes ahead of Rio Olympics 2016 as ace Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap has been forced to withdraw from the Malaysia Super Series Premier and Singapore Open.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist is currently battling a knee injury, he hoped to recover in time to compete in Malaysia and Singapore open and give Olympic qualification a chance but now Rio seems like a farfetched dream. With Kashyap out of the context from Rio games, it will be a big dent on India’s medal chances in the grand event. According to reports from PTI, Kashyap said “No tournaments for me the whole month. Actually, the injury was bad. I just feel the first diagnosis was not right. The first guy told me that I was going to be okay in two weeks’ time which was not the case.”

“I was expecting myself to play in two weeks so there are disappointment and irritation.”

Parupalli Kashyap is currently ranked No.17 in the world and to make it to the Olympic draw he needs to be in top-16. But the long layoff due to injury cost Kashyap valuable ranking points before the mega event. He further added “I wouldn’t blame anyone because everyone wants me to play and get back quickly. They want me to stay in shape and mentally be ready.”

Last year while playing in Malaysia Super Series Premier and Singapore open, Kashyap sailed through to the second round and to the semi-finals of those events respectively.

Earlier in October last year, Kashyap had suffered a calf muscle tear and an abdominal strain which didn’t allow him to defend his Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title. The Hyderabadi shuttler also missed the South Asian Games and was hoping to qualify for Olympics but, the German Open brought to respite to him.