Korea Masters: 21-year-olds Sankar, Isharani to spearhead Indian challenge

Seoul [South Korea], November 3 (ANI): Twenty-one-year-olds Sankar Subramanian and Isharani Baruah will be spearheading the Indian challenge at the Korean Masters starting from Tuesday.

The competition, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 300 tournament, will be played at the Wonkwang University Cultural and Sports Centre in Jeonbuk State, as per Olympics.com.

The two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu is not taking part due to injury, while other stars like Olympics semifinalist Lakshya Sen and popular men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty will be skipping the meet. Other notable names like Ayush Shetty, Unnati Hooda, Aakarshi Kashyap, Anupama Upadhyaya, Sai Pratheek K are also not participating, while the veteran Kidambi Srikkanth, initially a part of the main men's singles draw, has withdrawn. From women's singles, Anmol Kharb and Tanya Hemanth have also withdrawn.

Sankar is world number 65 in men's singles, while Isharani 53rd in women's singles rankings, will be spearheading a five-member squad in South Korea.

Sankar had caused an upset by defeating Lakshya last week at the Hylo Open last week and is the lone Indian men's singles shuttler and will be starting off against top-seeded Jia Heng Jason Teh of Indonesia.

Baruah will be joined in women's singles main draw by world number 69 Devika Sihag, 20, who finished as runners-up in Indonesia Masters last month after loss to Nozomi Okuhara.

The Indian challenge will be capped off by 17-year-old Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye, who will play her maiden Super 300 appearance in the women's singles qualifiers. Notably, she also played a young Saina Nehwal in Olympic medalist's biopic film 'Saina'.

There will be no Indian players in the doubles events at Korea Masters this year. No Indian has ever secured a Korea Masters title.

Korea Masters 2025 badminton: India squad

Men's singles: Sankar Subramanian

Women's singles: Isharani Baruah, Devika Sihag, Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye (Q). (ANI)

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