Top seed PV Sindhu will face a tricky test in a potential quarterfinal against Goh Jin Wei of Malaysian (the former junior world champion) while Srikanth Kidambi and Lakshya Sen were placed in separate halves in the men’s singles draw for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The draws for the individual events at the Commonwealth Games were confirmed on Thursday.
CWG 2022, Badminton: PV Sindhu favourite for elusive gold, expectations high from Thomas Cup heroes
The individual events will follow the mixed team event that starts on Friday and take place from August 3 to 8.
Women’s singles
[1] PV Sindhu and [5] Aakarshi Kashyap in separate halves. Kashyap has a potential quarterfinal vs [3] Kirsty Gilmour. Michelle Li of Canada is the second seed.
Men’s singles
World champion Loh Kean Yew is the top seed. In a projected semifinal clash, he could face [3] Srikanth in a repeat of the World Championships final. Lakshya Sen, seeded second, is in the bottom half with a potential SF against Brian Yang of Canada.
Men’s doubles
Thomas Cup heroes Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty are second seeds. They are in the bottom half with [4] Dunn/Hall from Scotland. The second Malaysian pairing, unseeded, is a potential threat for Indians in their half too. The top seeds are Chia/Soh of Malaysia.
Women’s doubles
Promising doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand are fourth seeds and they are in the top half with [1] Tan/Thinaah from Malaysia. The path to semis is a straightforward one for the Indians.
Mixed doubles
The only event where Indian shuttlers are not seeded. Ashwini Ponnappa will look to bring all her experience to the fore as she and Sumeeth Reddy look to navigate a populous draw. But in their very first round, a tough test awaits against sixth seeds Pugh/Hemming, one of the local favourites.
