Indian shuttlers aim to use home advantage with Olympic qualification at stake: India Open Badminton

Indian shuttlers will have a great chance to collect important points and make claims to Olympic slots across categories at the India Open Super 750, which will be hosted at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi from January 16–21, 2024. The Race to Paris 2024 is almost over. According to Badminton Association of India (BAI) Media, the likes of former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen, and up-and-coming Priyanshu Rajawat will be gunning for the second Indian spot at the Games. Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, as well as bronze medallist HS Prannoy, will aim to boost their position in the world ranking ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Anticipating another amazing week of top-notch badminton, Sanjay Mishra, general secretary of the BAI, stated: “The India Open is now a Super 750 level event because the BAI has continuously maintained a very high standard of preparation.” This implies that all of our athletes should have a decent opportunity of taking advantage of the home environment to gain important points and possibly win the medal. With more elite athletes taking part, spectators will have an incredible chance to see some incredible action.” In the men’s singles opening round, the young guns Sen and Rajawat will play against each other, guaranteeing one of the Indian stars a pre-quarterfinal position.

Once he gets beyond the first-round obstacle, eighth-seeded Prannoy will take against Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen. After that, he will play the winner of Sen and Rajawat’s match. Former champion Srikanth, who is presently ranked 24th in the Race to Paris rankings, will play Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the first round and may face reigning champion Kunlavut Viditsarn of Thailand in the second round. In the first round of the men’s doubles competition, World No. 25 Fang-Jen Lee and Fang-Chih Lee of Taipei will be the opponent for past champions and second seeds Satwik and Chirag. It is anticipated that they will advance further in the competition.

The women’s doubles teams of Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand are likewise in a fierce competition to qualify for the Olympics. Treesa and Gayatri, all England semi-finalists, will face fourth-seeded Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida of Japan in their tough opening match; Ashwini and Crasto, who advanced to three consecutive finals to close 2023 with great success, will play World No. 10 Thai pair Rawinda Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kititharakul in the opening round.

Defending champion An Se Young of South Korea will meet three-time champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in one of the other highly anticipated first-round matches. Another notable matchup pits Spain’s Carolina Marin against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. In the men’s singles bracket, first seed Viktor Axelsen will face Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei to begin his campaign, while former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore will take on third seed and defending All England champion Li Shi Feng of China.