Badminton open BWF India Open 2023 to begin this week

The men and women’s world number one champions, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, will headline the event alongside defending men’s champion Lakshya Sen along with PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Prannoy Roy, and 2022 men’s doubles champion pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty among others.

The tournament was upgraded to a BWF Super 750 event in 2023 and will be played at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall in the capital. The 2017 India Open champion Sindhu will face unseeded Thai shuttler Supanida Katethong in the first round. While former champion Saina Nehwal, Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod are the other Indians in the women’s singles event fray.

Sen will start his title defence against compatriot HS Prannoy as 2015 edition winner Kidambi Srikanth will meet Axelsen in the opening round of men’s singles.

Commonwealth Games men’s doubles gold medallist pair Rankireddy and Shetty will face the Danish pair of J Bay and L Molhede in their title defence. In women’s doubles, G Gopichand and T Jolly will face the pair of M Lambert and A Tran of France, while Shikha Gautam and A Bhat will face the challenge of Malaysia’s M Thinaah and P Tan.

According to analysis firm Statista, the market size of the sports industry across India was over ₹16 billion in 2020. The Indian Premier League accounts for majority of media consumption in the sports industry in the country. Recently, however, other domestic leagues like Pro Kabbadi and the Indian Super League have also gained popularity.