Badminton: Thailand Open starts today, Satwik-Chirag will lead the Indian challenge

Star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksai Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead the Indian challenge in the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament starting here on Tuesday. This top seeded Indian pair, a contender for the gold medal in the Paris Olympics, had some difficulty facing the service of players from Indonesia and China in the Thomas Cup. The players who have qualified for the Paris Olympics have worked on improving their skills and the BWF World Tour tournaments will give them a great opportunity to test their new shots and variations.

Will start campaign against Malaysian pair

The pair of Satwik and Chirag will start their campaign against the Malaysian pair of Noor Mohammad Azrin Ayub Azrin and Tan Wee Kiong and will be eyeing to improve their performance. India’s top singles player HS Prannoy, a bronze medalist at the World Championship and Asian Games, will have to regain his form after battling health problems in the current season. Prannoy’s confidence will be boosted by a win against Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting, but a loss against China’s Shi Yuqi will bother him as he needs to win close matches. Kiran George and Satish Kumar Karunakaran are also challenging in the singles category, while Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu withdrew from the competition before the tournament draw was announced last week. Kiran will face Australia Open winner Weng Hong Yang of China in the first round, while Satish will start his campaign against a qualifier.

In the absence of Sindhu, eyes will be on Ashmita

In the absence of Sindhu, India will be eyeing Ashmita Chaliha, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap in women’s singles. Ashmita will face Indonesia’s Easter Nurumi Tri Wardoyo in the first round, while Malvika will play against top seed Hen Yui of China. Aakarshi will face Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the first round. Young Unnati Hooda and Imad Farooqui will also hope to perform well against Belgium’s Liane Tan and China’s Goa Feng Jie respectively. In women’s doubles, the fourth seeded Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, who have qualified for the Paris Olympics, have got a bye in the first round.