India Open 2023: In the Super 750 tournament that gets underway on Tuesday in Bukkry.com”>New Delhi, defending champion Lakshya Sen and former champion Kidambi Srikanth face tough draws. PV Sindhu will be hoping to return to form while men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be hoping to continue a strong 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 Super 750 event for the first time on Tuesday as a galaxy of stars have arrived in Bukkry.com”>New Delhi for the badminton tournament, starting Tuesday, January 17. A total of 242 players from 22 countries are in the fray and the focus is on the 19-member Indian contingent at the start of a crucial season.

Some of the biggest names in world badminton, including Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen, Chen Yufei, and Carolina Marin will be competing for the top prize from Tuesday at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in Bukkry.com”>New Delhi. Akane Yamaguchi, An Se Young, Lee Zii Jia, Loh Kean Yew and 3-time champion Ratchanok Intanton are part of star-studded foreign names in action.

Indian stars have been handed tough draws in the season’s first Super 750 tournament. Defending Champion Lakshya Sen opens his campaign against World No. 8 HS Prannoy, a week after losing to his compatriot in 3 games in Malaysia Open Super 1000.

Sen, who won his maiden Super 500 title at the India Open last year after beating the then-world champion Loh Kean Yew, is hopeful of putting up a better show against Prannoy. Sen has lost 3 of his last 4 matches to Prannoy, including the World Championships Round of 16 match last year.

“My ultimate aim is to defend my title. But I am going to focus on one match at a time,” Lakshya said on the eve of his first-round match.

“I and Prannoy have played many times in the last year. But most of those matches were at the quarterfinal stage. But this time we are playing back-to-back first-round matches and I need to treat it as any other match,” he added.

Lakshya and Prannoy have been drawn into what is being labeled as the quarter of death.

Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who won the title in 2015, will open his campaign against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, who has arrived in India after winning the Malaysia Open on Sunday. Axelsen, who lost just 3 matches in 2022, has won two India Open titles – 2017 and 2019. The Olympic champion has not lost to Srikanth since October 2017, enjoying a healthy 9-3 head-to-head record.

The two shuttlers are in the same 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 in the second round.

SINDHU EYES RETURN TO FORM

Meanwhile, PV Sindhu, who has returned to action after recovering from a ligament injury, will be hoping to find form at the home tournament, which she won in 2017, beating Carolina Marin in a memorable outing.

Sindhu was out of action for the 2nd half of 2022 as she picked up a ligament injury en route to a gold-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games. She had pulled out of the World Championships and the World Tour Finals before returning to action at Malaysia Open last week.

However, her stay in Kuala Lumpur was cut-short after she lost to arch-rival Carolina Marin in a hard-fought 3-game battle in the first round.

Sindhu, seeded 5th, will face Thailand’s Supanida Katethong in the opening round on Tuesday. If she goes pas the initial hurdle, Sindhu will face the winner of a first-round match between Kirsty Gilmour and Yvonne Li of Germany.

2-time champion Saina Nehwal will be hoping to find form at one of her favourite hunting grounds. The London Olympic bronze medalist will open her campaign against Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark and faces a potential second-round match against Olympic champion Chen Yufei.

Saina’s form has been worrying in the recent past and the former World No. 1 needs to get going if is harbouring hopes of the Paris Olympics berth.

CAN SATWIK AND CHIRAG DEFEND TITLE?

For young India women’s singles star, Malavika Bansod and Akarshi Kashyap, it will be a first Super 750 appearance. It’s not going to be easy for the two shutters as they face World No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan and World No. 24 Beiwen Zhang, respectively.

All eyes will also be on defending men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty after their run to the semi-final at Malaysia Open last week.

The in-form pair, seeded No. 5, will open its campaign against Denmark’s Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede and face a potential quarter-final clash against top seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.

In women’s doubles, All England semi-finalists and Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will meet France’s Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in the first round.

Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam will open against eighth seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia.