Odense: Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen will be leading the Indian challenge at the Denmark Open badminton tournament starting from Tuesday.
In the recently-concluded Arctic Open, Sindhu and Sen made their return to Badminton World Federation (BWF) touring circuit for the first time since Paris Olympics, but could not impress much. World number 16 Sindhu was eliminated from the tournament in the opening round after loss to Canada’s Michelle Li in straight games while Sen also bowed out of the competition in the pre-quarterfinals with a loss to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen, as per Olympics.com.
Sindhu, under her new coaching team, featuring India’s Anoop Sridhar and the Republic of Korea’s Lee Soon Il, who started their journey with the superstar shuttler at Arctic Open, will be aiming to gain the consistency and fire that makes her one of the feared names in the badminton world.
Sen is India’s lone entry in the men’s singles competition at Denmark and has been drawn against China’s 17th world ranked shuttler Lu Guang Zu. On the other hand, Sindhu will take on Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po, who is ranked world number 28 presently.
Malvika Bansod, Unnati Hooda and Aakarshi Kashyap will also be the part of India’s women’s singles campaign. Bansod, who made it to the quarterfinals of the China Open, which is a BWF Super 1000 event, was eliminated in the pre-quarterfinals of the Arctic Open.
The men’s doubles competition will not feature any Indian pair. However, four pairs will be taking to the courts representing the tricolour in women’s and mixed doubles events. The Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna, will lock horns with Chang Ching Hui/Yang Ching Tun of Chinese Taipei while Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand will take on fifth-seeded Tan Pearly/Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia in their women’s doubles opening clash.
Coming to the mixed doubles competition, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath will be playing Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati and B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy will compete against Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang in round one.
Denmark Open 2024 badminton: India squad
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen
Women’s singles: PV Sindhu, Malvika Bansod, Unnati Hooda, Aakarshi Kashyap
Women’s doubles: Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda, Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand
Mixed doubles: Sathish Kumar Karunakaran/Aadya Variyath, B. Sumeeth Reddy/Sikki Reddy. (ANI)
Also Read: PV Sindhu crashes out of Arctic Open; Aakarshi, Malvika, Kiran George advance
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