Badminton News: The Indian badminton team without the injured PV Sindhu will face a tough challenge as the badminton season kicks off with the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament on Tuesday (18/10).
PV Sindhu is recovering from an ankle injury during his gold medal campaign at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In Sindhu’s absence, all eyes will be on Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and men’s doubles Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the historic bronze medal at the World Championships in Tokyo in August.
However, as no Indian player is seeded in singles, it will be a tough draw for Indian badminton players.
With the highest career world ranking of No. 8, Sen will face sixth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who holds a 2-0 lead, having beaten him at the German Open and the final of the This year’s Thomas Cup.
But whether the Indian will bounce back after the break remains to be seen. A win could pit him against fellow Indian HS Prannoy, who will face Zhao Jun Peng in his first round.
For this, Prannoy must overcome Peng’s challenge for the first time. The Chinese world number 19 has a 2-0 head-to-head advantage, having won against Prannoy at the World Championships in August and the others at the Indonesia Open in June.
Srikanth, meanwhile, will face Angus Ng Ka Long, with the duo having an aggregate record of 3-3. The last encounter saw the Indian beat the Hong Kong representative, but it’s been over a year at the HYLO Open and since then the Srikanth have struggled for consistency.
The road will only get tougher for Srikanth if he manages to pull off a win as the next potential challenger is seventh seed Loh Kean Yew.
They are in the same quarter as home favorite and world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, who just won the world championships. Axelsen will face Kunlavut Vitidsarn in a rematch of the World Championship final.
Veteran Saina Nehwal will be the only Indian to challenge in the women’s singles and will face Zhang Yi Man of China as the Indian looks to avenge their loss in 2016 in their only match so far.
If she manages to clear the hurdles in the first round, Saina can take on fifth seed Ratchanok Intanon.
At their peak after winning bronze at the World Championships, Satwik-Chirag will face South Korean representatives Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae, who beat the Indian duo in April.
Article tags: PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, saina nehwal, Denmark Open 2022
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/without-sindhu-lakshya-sen-jadi-tumpuan-tim-india-di-denmark-open
