Hong Kong
India’s top badminton duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, will spearhead the country’s challenge at the Hong Kong Open Super 500, starting today. Coming off a bronze medal at the World Championships in Paris, the world No. 3 pair is seeded eighth and faces Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin in the opening round.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, also returns to action. After a strong win over Wang Zhi Yi at the Worlds, she begins her campaign here against Denmark’s Line Christophersen.
In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen faces Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei, aiming to bounce back after a dip in form and early World Championships exit. HS Prannoy will take on Japan’s fifth seed Kodai Naraoka in a tough opener.
Rising star Ayush Shetty meets China’s Lu Guang Zu, while Anupama Upadhyaya and Rakshitha Ramraj have difficult first-round ties in women’s singles.
In doubles, the Panda sisters compete in women’s, and Hariharan-Ruban pair up in men’s. Mixed doubles sees Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto take on a pair from Chinese Taipei, while Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani face China’s second seeds.
Former No.1 Srikanth faces Tharun Mannepalli in an all-Indian qualifier clash.
