India’s star badminton players, including PV Sindhu, will face a tough test against the world’s top players as they begin their medal hunt at the Asian Badminton Championships, which begins with qualifiers in Ningbo, China, on Tuesday. The last-minute withdrawals of world number one and defending champions Satwisraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty may dim their shine a bit, but it will put the onus on the singles stars to Hands up at the Intercontinental Individual Championships.

The fact that this is the last major event to award Olympic qualifying ranking points adds another layer to the rivalry and there will be some serious battles between top badminton players this week.

Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu showed signs of returning to her old style as she overcame the likes of Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Chen Yufei in the French Open quarter-finals in three games.

On her comeback from injury, Sindhu shattered her racket after narrowly losing to Thailand’s Supanida Kattong at the Spanish Masters, frustrated that she could not finish the intense match. One thing is obvious.

Sindhu is still a work in progress and she will get another chance to test her game this week against top women’s seed An Shiying, Olympic champion Chen Yufei, Tai Tzu Ying, Akane Yamaguchi and He Bingjiao.

However, the former world champion will focus on his first-round match against world number 33 Malaysian Goh Jin-kui.

Sindhu has a 4-1 record against Malaysian players and if she gets a favorable result, she could face sixth seed Han Yue of China, whom the Indian recently defeated for the fifth time at the Asian Badminton Team Championships in February.

If she can get over that hurdle, Japan’s Yamaguchi or Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon could be next.

Aakarshi Kashyap will be another Indian in the women’s singles event as she will take on Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

In the men’s singles, there are more duels with Lakshadweep Sen. Lakshadweep Sen has reached the semi-finals twice at the French Open and the All England Championships, almost locking the qualification for Paris. The task is to tame China’s top seed Shi Yuqi. .

Lakshya will draw inspiration from his performance against China in the Asian Games team championship.

Pranoy, the seventh seed and 2023 World Championships bronze medalist, will face China’s Lu Guangzu. The Indian has been plagued by intestinal issues and has not been at his best this season. Prannoy failed to achieve good results against the Chinese team and will hope to avenge three losses.

Kidambi Srikanth, ranked 27th in the world, missed the Paris bus due to unstable condition. He will face a tough match against Anthony Ginting, the second seed ranked 3rd in the world and who entered the final of this year’s All England Championship. Task.

Young Indian badminton player Priyanshu Rajawat will face Malaysian Lee Zii Jia in the first round.

In the absence of Satvik Chirag, the Indian pair of Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will hope to go far against seventh seeds Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi of China. Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K are also in the running.

Tanisha Krastoo/Ashwini Ponnappa, who are leading the race for the Olympics, will take on the Indonesian pair of Febriyana Devipurji Kusuma/Amalia Kahaya Pu Lativi, while Teresa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand will face the fourth-seeded Chinese pair Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)