Newly crowned French Open champions Rankireddy and Shetty are expected to continue their rich form, while veteran Sindhu will hope to end India’s 23-year title drought with a fiery test at the All England Championship from Tuesday start. Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pulela Gopichand (2001) are the only Indian players to win the title, with Saina Nehwal (2015) and Lakshya Sen (2022), who was the runner-up, followed closely behind. This prestigious event enjoys iconic status in India but its uniqueness has waned somewhat over the years as it is now one of four Super 1000 events on the international calendar.
Satwik and Chirag had already won the Super 1000 title in Indonesia last year and given their stellar performances this season, expectations will be high when the two towering badminton players take the court this week following their performance in Paris on Sunday night. Very high.
Asian Games champions Satwick and Chirag have smashed their rivals to reach three finals this season – the Malaysian Super 1000 and the Indian Super 750 before winning in Paris – and will remain India’s biggest win at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham. Hope here.
Standing in front of them in the first round will be three-time world champions and Indonesian veterans Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. They have given Indians a lot of heartbreak in the past.
The Indians will be seeking revenge after the ‘Dads’ defeated Satvik and Chirag in their last encounter at Roland Garros last year.
If they get past the first hurdle, the Indian pair are likely to face the Malaysian pair of Chia Din Feng and Soh Wei Yik. The Malaysian team were formidable foes but Satvik and Chirag defeated them thrice in the last three matches.
Sindhu will also face a tough test against the world number one this week. The top seed South Korean player An Se-young entering the second round will defeat German player Yifeng Lee, whose record is 2 wins and 0 losses.
Sindhu has shown she is recovering well from a left knee injury that kept her on the sidelines for four months before playing at Roland Garros last week.
In the company of the legendary Padukone, Sindhu tied Olympic champion Chen Yufei but fell slightly behind in the quarter-finals in Paris.
Padukone, 68, will also be a constant source of inspiration for Lakshya Sen, who enjoyed a huge boost in Olympic qualifying by reaching the semi-finals of last week’s French Open.
Sen will face Malaysia’s Goh Zi Yong and could face fourth-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen in the second round.
World No. 7 Pranoy reached the semi-finals of the India Open in January but was eliminated in the first round of the French Open last week and she hopes to go deep into the draw against Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang.
However, Kidambi Srikanth, who is racing against time to qualify for Paris, will face top seed and world number one Viktor Axelsen in the first round. And young Priyanshu Rajawat has to fight hard. Against Indonesian player Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
The women’s doubles pair Teresa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand performed well in Birmingham and entered the semi-finals for two consecutive years. They will face the Indonesian pair Apriyani Rahayu/ Siti Fadia Silva Ramadanti.
Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa have also been in good contact and will face Hong Kong’s Yang Yating and Yang Peilin in the first round.
Two Indian women’s doubles pairs are vying to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Topics mentioned in this article
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
