Australian Open: PV Sindhu strives to rediscover form; Lakshya Sen out to extend fine run

PV Sindhu will strive to rediscover her form while fellow Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will be out to extend his purple patch

New Delhi: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will strive to rediscover her form while fellow Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will be out to extend his purple patch at the Australian Open 2023 BWF Super 500 tournament to be held from August 1 to 6.

The badminton matches will be played at the State Sports Centre in Sydney.

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Fifth-seeded in Australia, Sindhu has had a difficult year with her form. In her most recent two competitions, the Japan Open and the Korea Open, she suffered first-round losses. In total, the two-time Olympic medallist has lost in the opening round of seven of the 13 BWF World Tour 2023 competitions she has participated in this year.

The 28-year-old Sindhu is yet to win a title this season. Her best performance occurred at the Madrid Spain Masters, where Sindhu advanced to the finals before falling to Indonesian Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.

Malvika Bansod and Tasnim Mir will also start in the women’s singles main draw.

Lakshya Sen, the Commonwealth Games champion in the men’s singles, will begin his match against world No. 13 Lu Guang Zu of the People’s Republic of China.

Sen, who is 21 years old, has finished in the top four in his last three competitions. The run includes winning the Canada Open championship earlier in July as well as reaching the US Open and Japan semi-finals.

In the round of 32, Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, ranked No. 15, will compete against No. 9 in the world HS Prannoy. Also competing, Kidambi Srikanth will play Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in his opening encounter. Kidambi Srikanth lost to HS Prannoy in the Japan Open. In the main draw, Priyanshu Rajawat will also begin.

In the men’s doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will be the only Indian pair in the main draw. The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the Korea Open recently, have skipped the tournament.

The pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Indian women’s doubles team will also participate in the main draw.