India Open 2023: Within the Tremendous 750 event that will get underway on Tuesday in New Delhi, defending champion Lakshya Sen and former champion Kidambi Srikanth face robust attracts. PV Sindhu can be hoping to return to kind whereas males’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty can be hoping to proceed a robust run.
Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu, Carolina Marin, and Anthony Ginting at India Open 2023 (Courtesy: BAI)
By India Today Web Desk: India Open will get underway as a Tremendous 750 occasion for the primary time on Tuesday as a galaxy of stars have arrived in New Delhi for the badminton event, beginning Tuesday, January 17. A complete of 242 gamers from 22 international locations are within the fray and the main target is on the 19-member Indian contingent initially of an important season.
Among the greatest names in world badminton, together with Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen, Chen Yufei, and Carolina Marin can be competing for the highest prize from Tuesday on the KD Jadhav Indoor Corridor in New Delhi. Akane Yamaguchi, An Se Younger, Lee Zii Jia, Loh Kean Yew and 3-time champion Ratchanok Intanton are a part of star-studded international names in motion.
Indian stars have been handed robust attracts within the season’s first Tremendous 750 event. Defending champion Lakshya Sen opens his marketing campaign towards World No. 8 HS Prannoy, per week after shedding to his compatriot in 3 video games in Malaysia Open Tremendous 1000.
Sen, who gained his maiden Tremendous 500 title on the India Open final yr after beating the then-world champion Loh Kean Yew, is hopeful of placing up a greater present towards Prannoy. Sen has misplaced 3 of his final 4 matches to Prannoy, together with the World Championships Spherical of 16 match final yr.
“My final purpose is to defend my title. However I’m going to deal with one match at a time,” Lakshya mentioned on the eve of his first-round match.
“I and Prannoy have performed many instances within the final yr. However most of these matches had been on the quarterfinal stage. However this time we’re taking part in back-to-back first-round matches and I have to deal with it as another match,” he added.
Lakshya and Prannoy have been drawn into what’s being labeled because the quarter of loss of life.
Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who gained the title in 2015, will open his marketing campaign towards World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, who has arrived in India after successful the Malaysia Open on Sunday. Axelsen, who misplaced simply 3 matches in 2022, has gained two India Open titles – 2017 and 2019. The Olympic champion has not misplaced to Srikanth since October 2017, having fun with a wholesome 9-3 head-to-head file.
The 2 shuttlers are in the identical quarter that has Prannoy, Lakshya, and Shi Yuqi.
The winner of the match between Lakshya and Prannoy will face former World No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan within the second spherical.
SINDHU EYES RETURN TO FORM
In the meantime, PV Sindhu, who has returned to motion after recovering from a ligament damage, can be hoping to search out kind on the dwelling event, which she gained in 2017, beating Carolina Marin in a memorable outing.
Sindhu was out of motion for the 2nd half of 2022 as she picked up a ligament damage en path to a gold-medal end on the Commonwealth Video games. She had pulled out of the World Championships and the World Tour Finals earlier than returning to motion at Malaysia Open final week.
Nevertheless, her keep in Kuala Lumpur was cut-short after she misplaced to arch-rival Carolina Marin in a hard-fought 3-game battle within the first spherical.
Sindhu, seeded fifth, will face Thailand’s Supanida Katethong within the opening spherical on Tuesday. If she goes pas the preliminary hurdle, Sindhu will face the winner of a first-round match between Kirsty Gilmour and Yvonne Li of Germany.
2-time champion Saina Nehwal can be hoping to search out kind at considered one of her favorite searching grounds. The London Olympic bronze medalist will open her marketing campaign towards Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark and faces a possible second-round match towards Olympic champion Chen Yufei.
Saina’s kind has been worrying within the current previous and the previous World No. 1 must get going if is harbouring hopes of the Paris Olympics berth.
CAN SATWIK AND CHIRAG DEFEND TITLE?
For younger India ladies’s singles star, Malavika Bansod and Akarshi Kashyap, will probably be a primary Tremendous 750 look. It is not going to be simple for the 2 shutters as they face World No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan and World No. 24 Beiwen Zhang, respectively.
All eyes will even be on defending males’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty after their run to the semi-final at Malaysia Open final week.
The in-form pair, seeded No. 5, will open its marketing campaign towards Denmark’s Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede and face a possible quarter-final conflict towards high seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.
In ladies’s doubles, All England semi-finalists and Commonwealth Video games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will meet France’s Margot Lambert and Anne Tran within the first spherical.
Ashwini Bhat Ok and Shikha Gautam will open towards eighth seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia.
