Pune, Dec 12 (IANS): Pune7Aces on Wednesday announced they have roped in Mumbai-boy Harsheel Dani to replace injured Sony Dwi Kuncoro for their debut season of Premier Badminton League.
Sony sustained either a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) tear or an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear while training earlier this week.
The nature of the injury is still unknown as he will undergo an MRI scan which is scheduled for later this week, a statement said.
Sony has withdrawn his participation from PBL.
Dani, the 22 year old right-handed shuttler, is currently ranked 133 in the men's singles category.
He caught a lot of eyeballs after an amazing performance in the recently concluded Syed Modi International Badminton Championship where he made it to the Round of 16 after defeating the experienced Ajay Jayaram in the previous round.
Dani only fell short by a couple of points after his opponent Zhou Zegi managed to put up a strong fight to progress to the next round.
Having trained under Uday Pawar at the Uday Pawar Badminton Academy in Mumbai, Harsheel has been in a good shape this year. He won the Ghana BWF International Tournament 2018 defeating Siddharth Thakur 14-21, 21-16, 23-21 in the final and he was a runner-up at the Polish BWF International Tournament 2018 losing to Germany's Kai Schafer by 14-21, 22-20, 9-21 in the title clash. Before this, he also represented India in the Asian and BWF World Junior Championships. Harsheel was the U-19 singles champion in the junior nationals in 2015.
Talking about Harsheel's addition to the squad, Coach of Pune7Aces Joachim Persson, said, "Harsheel is a promising player with immense talent and has potential to take this team to the extra mile. We went ahead with this young talent because of his willingness to give more and his recent performances is proof of how hard working he is."
Excited to join the Pune7Aces squad, Harsheel said, "Premier Badminton League has always been a great platform for young players like me. It gives us a platform to showcase our talent. I am extremely excited to be part of the Pune7Aces team and I would give my best to this team every time I step on the court. I am going to make the most of this opportunity and enjoy every moment of it. I am in it to win it and with Pune7Aces I am surely aiming to win the League".
Harsheel was a part of the Mumbai Rockets in the second edition of Premier Badminton League.