Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Prannoy to spearhead Indian challenge

KUALA LUMPUR(Malaysia): Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy will be spearheading the Indian challenge at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament, which will start on Tuesday.

In this Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 500 Tournament, the world number 16 is the top-rated Indian shuttler in the women’s category and will compete against the world number 20 from Japan, Natsuki Nidaira in the first round, as per Olympics.com.

Sindhu skipped the Taipei Open and Thailand Open earlier this month, and her best performance this year is the quarterfinal finish atthe Indian Open in January. Prannoy also competed in the Sudirman Cup at the month start.

Malvika Bansod, the 23rd in the women’s singles competition and 17-year-old Unnati Hooda, who made it to the semifinals of the Taipei Open earlier this month, will also be competing.

HS Prannoy, the world number 35th in the singles rankings, will be competing against Japan’s fifth seed and world number 12, Kenta Nishimoto.

World number 33, Priyanshu Rajawat, is the top-ranked men’s singles player in the absence of 18th-ranked Lakshya Sen.

The men’s singles draw also includes Ayush Shetty and Sathish Karunakaran.

Coming to the men’s doubles, the main draw features world No. 40 Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi and the qualifiers will include Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratheek K.

The world number 19 pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto will represent India in the mixed doubles competition as the top-ranked pair.

Malaysia Masters 2025 badminton: India squad

Men’s singles: Ayush Shetty, Sathish Karunakaran, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat; qualifiers – Kidambi Srikanth, Tharun Mannepalli, Sankar Subramanian

Men’s doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi; qualifiers – Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy-Sai Pratheek K

Women’s singles: PV Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansod, Unnati Hooda; qualifiers: Anmol Kharb, Tasnim Mir

Women’s doubles: Vaishnavi Khadkekar-Alisha Khan, Prerana Alvekar-Mrunmayee Deshpande, Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi, Rashmi Ganesh-Sania Sikkandar

Mixed doubles: Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde, Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh, Sathish Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath; qualifiers: Mohit Jaglan-Lakshita Jaglan, Shivam Sharma-Poorvisha S Ram. (ANI)