All England Open: Sindhu, Satwiksairaj-Chirag to lead Indian challenge

BIRMINGHAM(UK): Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu will be leading India’s charge at the 2025 All England Open badminton competition, starting in Birmingham from Tuesday onwards.

The currently 15th-ranked Sindhu will be returning to the court for the first time since January’s Indonesia Masters tournament, as per Olympics.com.

World number 28 Malvika Bansod is India’s other challenger in the women’s singles competition.

Coming to the men’s competition, the world number 10 Lakshya Sen is the top-ranked Indian shuttler in the tournament. He could play against the world number 30th HS Prannoy in the quarterfinals given both of them qualify for that stage.

Lakshya made it to the semifinals of the All England Championships last year before he was defeated by champion Jonatan Christie. He was also the men’s singles runners-up two years back.

On the other hand, the star India men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked seventh, who havenot played since January’s Indonesia Masters, will be featured in the competition as well.

Two-time All-England semifinalists pair of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa are India’s representative in the women’s doubles competition along with Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra.

The mixed doubles competition will witness Indian pairs of Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath and Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto in action.

The All England Open is the most prestigious tournament on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour calendar, with only two Indians, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, having won it, in the singles competition. (ANI)