Anup Sridhar, top Indian hope at Hyderabad’s Indian Open, and ranked 24 in the world, has withdrawn from the Level 3 BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament since the pain in his foot has persisted.

“I was training as much as I could, but the pain is a little too much to play with, so I’ve decided to withdraw,” the 24-year-old, said on Sunday. Unseeded Sridhar was to play Andrew Smith of England in the opening round.

It is learnt that the tournament may be depleted further, as a few other withdrawals are to be announced on Monday. Still nursing the rupture in the plantar facia below the left ankle sustained when he retired midway through a match against Taufik Hidayat at the mid-March Swiss Open, Sridhar said that he could run and swim during the light training he had undertaken over the last week, but playing with the pain — especially smashing from the back-court- would have been difficult.

“There’s no aggravation of the injury as such — the doctor had asked me if I could play with the pain, and I didn’t think I could,” he said, adding he’d continue his return to prime fitness in Bangalore, and aim for the Asian Championships at Johore Bahru — the final stop for Olympic qualifying points.

Aravind Bhat, India’s next best bet — 43 in rankings — has a bye in the opening round, while other Indians in the draw include locals Chetan Anand (81) who plays Indonesian Andreas Adityawarman in his opening round, and P Kashyap (98) who faces off against Chen Yong Zhao Ashton of Singapore. Anand Pawar, plays Peruvian Andres Corpancho. Subject to his progress by two further rounds, he can run into Japanese seventh seed Shoji Sato.