Badminton Asia C’ships draw: PV Sindhu in same quarter as An Se Young, Lakshya Sen vs Loh Kean Yew

Editor’s note: The article is now updated with withdrawals on Monday.

PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are the seeded entries from India as they look to make an impact at the Badminton Asia Championships (individual events) starting on April 25 in Dubai.

Update: Schedule for first day matches here.

Sindhu and Prannoy are 8th seeds in their respective singles draw, while the Swiss Open 2023 champions Satwik and Chirag are seeded 6th in the men’s doubles.

Sindhu, who won bronze last edition in Manila in a rather controversial manner, will face a stiffer challenge this time around. The Indian former world champion has struggled for form this season, but showed some positive signs to reach the final of one event in Spain where she lost heavily in the final.

She will start off with a tricky fixture against world No 17 Wen Chi Hsu. It only gets tougher from there as she could face either Han Yue in the next round, and a potential quarterfinal awaits against her nemesis An Se Young, the second seed at the event.

Malvika Bansod starts off with the toughest possible test, facing top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the opening round. Saina Nehwal is among the withdrawals as is former world champions Ratchanok Intanon. Aakarshi Kashyap was drawn to face Intanon, Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi will be her new first-round opponent.

In men’s singles, all three Indians in the main draw are placed in separate quarters for starters. Sen has the toughest opening test of all three, as he takes on friend and former world champion in Loh Kean Yew. If the Indian is able to reach his peak physical fitness, however, that should be a 50-50 clash. This clash is in the top quarter of the draw which has top seed Jonatan Christie in it.

Srikanth Kidambi starts off with a winnable clash against Adnan Ebrahim of Bahrain but could face fourth seed Kodai Naraoka in the second round. Eighth seed HS Prannoy faces Phone Pyae Naing of Myanmar in the opening round. He is in the same quarter as Lee Zii Jia, the reigning champion.

In men’s doubles, Satwik-Chirag will start off against Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia. The Indians are in the same quarter as their idols Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan and have to overcome that test in the last eight should they aspire for a place on the podium.

Eighth seeds Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi are the first-round opponents for MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila while fourth seeds and former world champs Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan will pose a stiff challenge for Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala.

In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela take on Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto who had reached the semifinals at Orleans Masters last week. Should they cross that hurdle, they have a stiffer challenge against the winner of Supissara Paewsampran and Puttita Supajirakul of Thailand vs Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong of Korea, the 6th seeds.

Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam are also in the main draw and start off against Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose.

In mixed doubles, there are four Indian entries and all of them are in the qualification round-robin stage to determine which four pairs will make it to the main draw. The injury-enforced absence of Ishaan Bhatnagar and the relatively lower rank of the newly-formed pairing with Ashwini Ponnappa, means that Tanisha Crasto misses out entirely.

Day one update:

Day two schedule: