DUBAI: Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will lead the Indian challenge in the women’s category at the Badminton Asia Championships 2023 scheduled to be played at the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall in Dubai from April 25 to 30.
The Badminton Asia Championships 2023 will be the tournament’s 40th edition and will be contested for the first time in the Middle East.
Other prominent Indian badminton players competing in the singles category, in addition to PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, include HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, and Lakshya Sen.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead the men’s doubles challenge, while Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will compete in the women’s doubles event.
Sindhu is seeded eighth in the singles category. She reached the women’s singles final of the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 earlier this month. HS Prannoy is also seeded eighth in men’s singles. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are seeded sixth in the men’s doubles.
According to the draw, world No. 11 PV Sindhu will meet Chinese Taipei’s Wen Chi Hsu in the first round. In the first round, Saina Nehwal, ranked 29, will face a qualifier. Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap will also compete in the women’s singles category.
In the first round of the men’s singles, world No. 9 HS Prannoy will face Myanmar’s Phone Pyae Naing. Lakshya Sen, world No. 24, will face Singapore’s seventh seeded Loh Kean Yew. Kidambi Srikanth, world No. 23, will face Adnan Ebrahim of Bahrain in the first round.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who claimed the Swiss Open crown, will open their campaign against Malaysia’s Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong. In the women’s doubles, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will play Lanny Mayasari and Ribika Sugiarto of Indonesia in the first round. (ANI)