India to field largest-ever contingent for Super 750 badminton tournament

STAR shuttlers Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu will headline host India's largest-ever contingent at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 badminton tournament, starting in New Delhi from January 14.

With top stars like Olympic champions Viktor Axelsen, An Se Young, and world No. 1 Shi Yuqi leading the field, top-tier action is expected at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, Indira Gandhi Stadium.

A total of 21 Indian players, including three men’s singles, four women’s singles, two men’s doubles, eight women’s doubles, and four mixed doubles pairs, will compete in the BWF World Tour event, which offers 11,000 ranking points for the champions.

"With so many Indian players competing in a Super 750 event, it’s a remarkable sign of the growth and rise of Indian badminton on the world stage," Sanjay Mishra, General Secretary, Badminton Association of India, said in a release.

The tournament, which was elevated to Super 750 category in 2023, saw India field 14 entries in the past two editions, and India's highlights were Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy reaching the men’s doubles final and HS Prannoy making the men’s singles semifinals in 2024.

Chirag and Satwik, semifinalists at the 2024 China Masters, will lead India’s men’s doubles charge. Satwik, returning from injury, will look to regain his form after limited play since the Paris Olympics.

Apart from Satwik-Chirag, India's hopes will also rest on former champion Lakshya Sen and two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu.

The competition will feature 18 of the world’s top-20 men’s singles players and 14 of the top-20 women’s singles shuttlers.

The men’s doubles line-up is being led by China’s Paris Olympics silver medal winning combination of Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang along with Paris bronze medallists Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia, Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen and Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.