India’s top badminton stars, including PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, and Satwik- Chirag, will be sharing in the individual Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai starting on April 25. This tournament is crucial as it comes right before the 2024 Olympic qualification cycle and the Sudirman Cup( world team championships) in May.
Lakshya Sen, who’s currently unseeded due to a drop in ranking, will face former world champion and seventh seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the first round. Sen leads their head- to- head 4- 2 and is coming off a break he took to take care of his mental and physical health. Other big names in his quarter are top seed Jonatan Christie, Shi Yu Qi, and Ng Tze Yong.
HS Prannoy, seeded eighth, will start against Myanmar’s Pyae Naing, whom he’ll be playing for the firsttime.However, he may face third seed Lee Zii Jia in the quarterfinals, after a potential second-round match against Indonesian Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, If the seedings hold.
Kidambi Srikanth has an easy start against Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim, with a potential second-round match against Japanese fourth seed Kodai Naraoka.
All eyes will be on PV Sindhu in the women’s singles, as she showed sparks of resurgence on her comeback from injury when she reached the final of the Madrid Masters. Sindhu, who’s seeded eighth, will start against worldNo. 17 Wen Chi Hsu in their first meeting, and could potentially play Han Yue in the second round. However, her toughest test will be the potential quarterfinal against second seed An Se Young, whom she’s yet to beat in five meetings.
Malvika Bansod has the toughest opener, as she’ll take on top seed and reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi, who has beaten her in their only previous encounter.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won their first BWF World Tour of the year at the Swiss Open last month but had to withdrawmid-match at the Madrid Masters due to Satwik’s injury, will start against Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia, whom they’ve not played before. Their big challenge will be against third seeds” Daddies” Mohammad Ahsan- Hendra Setiawan, who they’re drawn to meet in the quarterfinals.
Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will start against formidable fourth seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in their first meeting. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will take on eighth seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, against whom they’ve a 0- 3 record.
In the women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who were standout performers at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships, will start against Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto, whom they lost to in their previous encounter. Ashwini Bhat and Shika Gautam will take on Trias Puspitasari and Allessya Rose in their first meeting, with a potential alternate-round match against top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China.
In the mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponappa and B Sumeeth Reddy were promoted from reserves to be India’s only direct entry, while there are three Indian pairs in the qualifiers as well.
