PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen Ready for India Open

Indian shuttlers have been given a challenging draw for the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 tournament, which will be held from January 13 to 18 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

Former world champion PV Sindhu will face Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen in the first round of the women’s singles. This will be a tough match for Sindhu, as she has lost twice recently against Nguyen.

Lakshya Sen, the 2022 champion, will start his campaign against fellow Indian Ayush Shetty in an all-Indian clash. Since there are four Indian men’s singles players in the tournament, this match means that only three can progress to the second round.

The winner of the Sen-Shetty match will then play either fourth seed Chou Tien Chen from Chinese Taipei or Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the next round.

Other Indian singles players also face strong opponents. Former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth will take on Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei, who was part of the 2024 Thomas Cup bronze-winning team and is currently world No.12. If Srikanth wins, he may face France’s Christo Popov in the second round.

The India Open is one of the biggest events on the BWF World Tour and will also act as a practice event ahead of the BWF World Championships, which will take place at the same venue in August.

Indian shuttlers will be looking to perform well and gain momentum for the year’s major tournaments.