Badminton World Championships: All eyes on Satwik-Chirag

Copenhagen, August 20

The in-form duo of HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will be at the forefront of India’s medal hunt at the BWF World Championships beginning here tomorrow.

All eyes will also be on Satwiksaraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the country’s best doubles pair at world No. 2, as they look to better the colour of the bronze they claimed in the last edition.

One player who has been close to finishing on the podium is Prannoy, who lost in the quarterfinals in 2021 and 2022. With the Malaysia Masters win and a final finish at the Australian Open, Prannoy is looking in good shape.

Sen too will look to better his result at the event, having won bronze in the 2021 edition. Kidambi Srikanth, who finished second in 2021, has been erratic this season with his game imploding at crucial junctures.

Former champion and five-time medallist PV Sindhu has been handed a bye and could face former champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in her opening fixture.

Second seeds Satwiksaraj and Shetty, who have won titles at the Indonesia Open, Asia Championships, Swiss Open and Korea Open this year, are expected to go deep.