Tough draws for Indian shuttlers as the Indian Open draws are out, Lakshya Sen faces countryman HS Prannoy in the first round

The BWF Super 750 India Open is set to be held in New Delhi next month and the Indian badminton stars are prepared to fight it out against the world to bag the title. The tournament is all set to start from 17th January at the capital and will see the top Indian shuttlers go up against some stern competition.

The draw of the event was on Tuesday and fate once again made the call to put India’s rising talent Lakshya Sen against the veteran shuttler HS Prannoy. While Sen is a brilliant shuttler and is growing to be among the best in the world, Prannoy has had a late rise to the peak as he recently broke in the top 10 and also achieved career high 8th ranking in the world following a tremendous 2022 calendar year. The last time these two met each other it was in the Denmark Open where Lakshya Sen won in straight games.

On the other hand, World No. 12 Kidambi Srikanth is also on Sen and Prannoy’s quarter. He will be locking horns against World No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the first round. Whereas Kento Momota is also in the reckoning as he also finds him in the same quarter as the other four shuttlers.

It will be a big moment for PV Sindhu to start the year with positivity as she will return to action following her Commonwealth games exploits back in August. She has been out with injury for the last few months and now will be looking to make a strong statement. She will take on Thailand’s Supinda Katethong in the first round. However the interesting part of the story is we could see an all Indian clash as she could face Saina Nehwal in the second round. Nehwal will start her campaign against Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt. It won’t be easy for Nehwal but one thing we know for sure is to never underestimate Saina especially when her chips are down. She always finds a way to come back up and surprise her fans.

Other Indian female Singles shuttlers like Akarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod are also featuring in the event and will look to give their best in front of the home crowd.

All eyes will be on Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and CHirag Shetty when we look into the Men’s Doubles category. The SatChi duo will face Denmark’s Jeppe Nay and Lasse Molhede in the opening round. However they will face tougher tests as they are in the same quarter as Japan’s Takuro Hogi and Yugo kobayashi who are second in the World Rankings.

Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun are also in the mix as the second Men’s doubles pairing from India. Incidentally they will also face a duo of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen from Denmark.

In the Women’s Doubles all hopes will be pinned on the talented duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. Although it will be a great platform for Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam who are also featuring in the tournament.

Lastly in Mixed Doubles, the only Indian pairing is of Ishan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto who will represent the tricolor at the event.