India Open: ‘Quarter of death’ has Indians pitted against Indians | Badminton News – Times of India

India No.1 Prannoy to face CWG gold medallist Lakshya Sen in India Open men’s singles first round; Kidambi Srikanth too placed in same quarter
NEW DELHI: Call it fate, coincidence or AI (Artificial Intelligence) shenanigans, India’s top-2 men’s singles shuttlers will be facing each other in the early rounds of marquee tournaments far too often!
Last week at the Malaysia Open, HS Prannoy, India’s highest-ranked (at world No. 8) men’s singles player, faced 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and world No.10 Lakshya Sen. Prannoy had emerged victorious that time in a hard-fought three-set battle.
Before the tournament, Prannoy tweeted: “Lakshya looks like the tournament software wants to see only us playing against each other in all tournaments.”

2022 also saw the Prannoy vs Lakshya clash five times. As of now, after Prannoy’s Malaysia Open win, the head-to-head stands at 3-3.
Quite startlingly, the upcoming India Open Super 750 – held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi from January 17 to 22 – will also see Prannoy face Lakshya in the first round. The Badminton World Federation‘s software is working in some strange way — Prannoy and Lakshya can’t find themselves in different quarters.
The men’s singles draw also has another top Indian in the same half as Prannoy and Lakshya. Kidambi Srikanth will take on world No. 1 and the man-for-big-tournaments, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, in the first round. Srikanth trails Axelsen 3-9 in the head-to-head and the Indian will have to raise his game by several notches to get past the current World and Olympic champion.
Lakshya is the defending India Open men’s singles champion. This was when the tournament was a Super 500 one. Now it is upgraded to a Super 750 tournament and the competition is much tougher.
“I’ll try and defend my title. Every match in a Super 750 or Super 1000 tournament is tough. There are no easy days,” Lakshya told TOI on the eve of the tournament. “It’s just unfortunate that we (him and Prannoy) are always facing each other so early in big tournaments. But that’s how the draw goes and I’ll have to take this match like any other and not take too much pressure.”
Except for Olympic silver medallist Tai Tzu Ying, the tournament will have all the top players of the world in full attendance.
In the women’s singles, India’s challenge will be led by double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who will face Supanida Katethong of Thailand. Saina Nehwal will try to shrug off her Malaysia Open rustiness in her opening round encounter against Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. Saina had crashed out in the opening round at Malaysia Open.
Interestingly, if Saina and Sindhu – both former India Open champions – win their first two rounds, they’ll clash against each other in the quarterfinals. The Sindhu vs Saina encounter, however, is unlikely as Saina will most probably face world No. 2 Chen Yu Fei of China, if she wins her first round.
Sindhu, on the other hand, is on a comeback trail after missing the last five months of 2022 due to a stress fracture sustained during her successful campaign at the Commonwealth Games. She had lost her opening match at the Malaysia Open, but again she was up against none other than Carolina Marin.
“After an injury, it is difficult to get into the groove straightaway. I am taking one match at a time. As of now, I am satisfied with my fitness levels,” Sindhu told TOI. “I hope there will be more good days for me than bad (at the India Open).”
Sindhu was also optimistic that “crowd will come in numbers” for a Super 750 tournament and a good turnout will be “highly exciting” for the players.
Other Indians in fray in women’s singles are last edition’s semifinalist Aakarshi Kashyap and Malvika Bansod.
But the top-of-the-charts first round women’s singles clash will pit former world champions Marin and Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara. Marin is also easing her way into the circuit after suffering two ghastly injuries last year. She tore her right knee ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) and broke two meniscuses in the left knee.
“It was tough last year, but sometimes your body stops you. I had so much frustration with myself because I wanted to push harder to try to recover as soon as I could. It was tough physically as well as mentally. Now, I have recovered and I’m more happy and content with myself. I can play more of these tournaments. I am not scared of any player now,” Marin said.