Badminton News: HS Prannoy, who is in great shape, will be in the spotlight as India’s top badminton players prepare for tough opening matches at the Indonesia Open, the BWF Super 1000 tournament, which will kick off in Jakarta on Tuesday (13/6).

HS Prannoy, who won the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, looks promising for a deep dive into the tournament, where world badminton will compete this week.

India’s world number 8 HS Prannoy will face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto and a first-round victory will likely pit him against China’s Shi Yuqi in the second round.

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and 2021 world championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth will also be looking for an impressive start to the campaign, although they haven’t been at their best this season.

Sindhu was knocked out in the first round of the last two matches, while Srikanth won several quarter-finals in Malaysia and Spain and will be stopped against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia and Lu Guang Zu of China in the first round respectively.

Lakshya Sen showed a spark to get back into shape by reaching the semi-finals of the Thailand Open. The 2021 world championship bronze medalist will open her campaign against world number 10 and eighth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Commonwealth Games champions and world No. 5 in men’s doubles, will face rivals Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia in the first round.

Satwik and Chirag won the Swiss Open title this season and will need to work hard to get the better of the Indonesian pair, who they have yet to beat in 11 encounters.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will also face tough challenges as they take on eight Malaysian seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in men’s doubles.

In the other match, former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal will face Chinese seventh seed Wang Zhi Yi.

Women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela will face Japanese duo Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi in the first round.

The BWF World Tour is divided into six tiers, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000s, six Super 750s, seven Super 500s and 11 Super 300s.

Another tournament category, the BWF Tour Super 100 tier, also offers ranking points.

The Super 1000 is a Tier 2 (Tier 2) event in the BWF Tournament Ranking System, offering the highest points and prize pool.

Article Tags: HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Indonesia Open 2023