Badminton Asia C’ships: Sindhu likely to face An Se Young in quarters; Prannoy, Lakshya, Satwik-Chirag handed tough draw

P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy in singles and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in doubles are the seeded players from India in the event.

Lakshya Sen, PV. Sindhu and men’s doubles pairing of Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will be among the Indian contenders for Badminton Asia Championships 2023 titles. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU and Getty Images

The Indian shuttlers were handed a tough draw in the Badminton Asia Championships scheduled to be held in Dubai on April 25-May 6.

P.V. Sindhu and H.S. Prannoy in singles and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in doubles are the seeded players from India in the event.

While Sindhu and Prannoy are seeded eighth in their respective singles draw, Satwik-Chirag is seeded sixth in men’s doubles.

Sindhu, who has recently played her first final on the BWF World Tour 2023 at Madrid Spain Masters, will face Wen Chi Hsu in a tricky opening round match. The Indian shuttler, who is yet to regain her peak form, is likely to face Han Yue of China in the second round and the season’s most in-form player An Se Young, the All England Open champion, in the quarterfinal.

However, youngsters Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap will have their task cut out in the opening round as they are facing two of the sport’s biggest names Akane Yamaguchi and Ratchanok Intanon. Veteran Saina Nehwal, meanwhile, is likely to face Chinese juggernaut He Bing Jiao in the second round.

In men’s singles, Prannoy, the world no. 9, and Kidambi Srikanth get an easy draw as they face unseeded Pyae Naing and Adnan Ebrahim in their respective opening-round matches. But they could find themselves up against defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and Japanese Kodai Naraoka in the second round, respectively.

Lakshya Sen, the third Indian men’s singles player in action, has a difficult first-round match to surpass, with him facing world no. 7 Loh Kean Yew. Even if he manages to win the match, Lakshya will have tricky Jonatan Christie to overcome in the pre-quarterfinals.

Satwik-Chirag, who won their first World Tour of the year at the Swiss Open, will kick off their campaign against Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia. In the second round, they may face world no. 3 Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan. Satwik-Chirag will need to overcome the tough challenge to secure a place in the last four.

M.R. Arjun-Dhruv Kapila is the second Indian men’s doubles pairing who will be in the fray at the continental championships. Arjun and Dhruv will begin their campaign against eighth seed Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, while Krishna Prasad Garga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will face Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela take on Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto in the opening round. Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam are the other Indian women’s doubles pairing in the fray.

India, meanwhile, has four pairings participating in mixed doubles, and all of them are slotted in qualifiers.