India Open Badminton: Sindhu, Sen look to shine on home turf

Sindhu, Sen will look to keep their date with destiny as they will be title contenders in at least three of the five events at India Open Super 750

New Delhi: The country’s top shuttlers, including reigning champion Lakshya Sen and double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, will look to keep their date with destiny as they will be title contenders in at least three of the five events when the India Open Super 750 begins here on Tuesday.

Indian badminton never had this good with as many as three players – Sindhu (7), Sen (10), HS Prannoy (8) in singles world’s top 10 and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty at world No. 5 – all coming into the season with loads of success last year.

While seventh seed Sen and Satwik-Chirag, seeded fifth, are entering the $900,000 event as defending champions, Sindhu and world No. 13 Kidambi Srikanth are also former champions.

However, the past results will count for little as all the big stars of world badminton will be pitted against each other – some of them in the opening round itself – during the upgraded version of India’s flagship event.

Sen and Prannoy, two most prominent figures of Indian men’s singles in 2022, will engage in yet another slugfest in the opening round with the younger of the two hoping to return the favour this time after last week’s opening round reversal in Kuala Lumpur.

Sindhu’s return after a long injury lay-off at the Malaysia Open was spoilt by long-time nemesis Spain’s Carolina Marin, who herself is on a comeback trail having sustained two ACL injuries in both her knees in the last few years.

This week, it will be Thailand’s Supanida Katethong who will stand in her way in the first round and Sindhu will hope to find her sharpness in attack and strength in defence to avoid any hiccup, having lost to her in the last edition.

The former world champion, who has been out of action due to a heel injury since the Commonwealth Games in August, is likely to face a potential quarter-final clash against Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China.

However, no one has a tougher task at hand than former world No. 1 Srikanth, who will open against reigning Olympic and two-time world champion Viktor Axelsen, who has extended his record-breaking winning streak by retaining the Malaysia title on Sunday.

London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, a former winner of the India Open, will begin her campaign against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt, desperately hoping for a good run to boost her confidence after another injury-ravaged 2022.

Young guns Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap will have their task cut out against Thailand’s world No. 11 Busanan Ongbamrungphan and world No. 24 Beiwen Zhang of the US in the opening round of what will be their first appearance at the Super 750 level.