Singles player HS Prannoy will lead the Indian challenge in the Indonesian Badminton Masters Super 500 tournament which begins here on Tuesday after doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty withdrew.

After finishing runners-up in two consecutive tournaments in the Malaysia Super 1000 and Indian Open Super 750, the Asian Games champions skipped the tournament to focus on their workload with a grueling season ahead of them.

The duo's absence could add to the excitement of the tournament, but world number 9 Prannoy will look to keep the Indian flag high to keep his form steady.

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Prannoy is the only Indian player seeded No. 1. 7 of 32 matches in the men's singles, where he will begin his campaign against the Singaporean Loh Kin Yew, who against the Indian has a 4-1 win-loss record.

It was the world number 11's singles victory over Prannoy at the 2021 World Championships and since then the Indian has won twice in a row, the most recent being back-to-back bronze medals at the 2021 World Championships. last year.

In addition to that coveted bronze medal, Prannoy won the Malaysia Masters and finished runner-up at the Australian Open last year.

He still showed his best form and reached the semi-finals after being knocked out by Chinese champion Yu Qi Shi at the Indian Open last week.

Previously, Prannoy was eliminated in the first round of the Malaysia Open Super 1000.

Another Indian player who will be in the spotlight is world number 19 Lakshya Sen, who will look to end his spell in the first round, when he takes on China's Weng Hongyang.

The Chinese world number 16 has a win-loss ratio of 3-2 against the young Indian and comes into the match fresh off his victory at the Malaysian Open less than two weeks ago.

Since winning the Canadian Open last year, Sen has been in bad shape and has been eliminated in the first round eight times in a row.

Last week, Sen lost to fellow Indian Priyanshu Rajawat at the Indian Open, where the former world number eight will look to find his magic.

Po World. Kidambi will also face 25th seed Srikanth and Li Zi Jia of Malaysia, while 30th seed Rajawat will face Rasmus Gemke of Denmark.

In the absence of Chirag and Satwik, Pak Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will be the only Indian players to take part in the men's doubles as they will face Malaysians Goh Sze Fai and Noor Azizuddin in the first round.

No Indian will participate in the women's doubles and mixed doubles events.