The prestigious All England Open Badminton Championship is set to start on 14 March with the top badminton players from around the world gathering in Birmingham's Utilita Arena for one of the most coveted medals of the season.
With 155 matches and over 50 hours of badminton action to enjoy, the Championships will culminate on 20 March with plenty of intriguing ties on offer. A total of 128 singles competitors and 96 doubles teams are competing in the event.
From the Indian perspective, so far only two badminton players have won the All-England Open since it started in 1899. Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win the men's singles title in 1980. Pullela Gopichand became the second to clinch the coveted trophy in 2001. Saina Nehwal and Lakshya Sen, however, came close but ended up as the runners-up in 2015 and 2022, respectively. PV Sindhu has reached the semi-final twice,
This year, the Indian shuttlers have not had the best of starts to the season with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu gradually making a comeback from injury, and Satwikaairaj Rankireddy getting injured.
Though India have clinched the bronze at the Asian Mixed team event, it is hard to predict what will be India's chances at the prestigious event with a tricky draw, where none of the Indian singles players are seeded.
Men's Singles
All eyes will be on last year's finalist Lakshya Sen, who will begin his campaign against fifth seed Taipei shuttler Chou Tien Chen, against whom he is yet to register a win. If he gets past the first-round, Sen will meet the winner of the all-Dane contest between Anders Antonsen and Rasmus Gemke, with Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting as his potential quarterfinal opponent.
Sen could also have a face-off with HS Prannoy, which will be their eighth meeting in the last one year, as the latter has been drawn in the same quarter as Sen. But first, Prannoy has to face Wang Tzu Wei in the opening round, with a potential second-round against Ginting.
Another Indian, Kidambi Srikanth starts against Popov and has a potential clash with Japanese seventh seed Kodai Naraoka in the second round. If Shrikanth manages to move at Popov and Noaraoka, then he will have a potential quarterfinal face-off with defending champion Lee Zii Jia.
Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu during a friendly game.
Women's Singles
Sindhu has had an unmemorable start to the year after returning from a five-month injury layoff. Considered as a player of major events, Sindhu hasn't reached the All-England final in her career so far.
The ace shuttler begins against Zhang Yi Man. If she wins, she will play fifth seed and familiar foe He Bing Jiao, whom she defeated in Tokyo Olympics in a bronze medal match.
The Third seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who stopped Sindhu from reaching her second successive Olympic final in Tokyo, is the other seed in this quarter, and there will be a potential quarterfinal clash between the two shuttlers.
The 2015 finalist, Nehwal, will begin against China's Han Yue, who has a 3-1 record against the Indian. A win will set up a clash against sixth seed Wang Zhi Yi.
File picture of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy from the Commonwealth Games.
(Photo: PTI)
Men's Doubles
Big-game players Satwik and Chirag Shetty are India's biggest hope for a medal at the All England Championships. The sixth-seeded Indian are drawn to begin against Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo but 'the Minions' has pulled out of the tournament as Sukamuljo has yet to recover from a bout of dengue.
After their withdrawal, one of French duo Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar and Indian pair Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will likely step up from the reserves to face Satwik and Chirag.
If the duo reaches the second round, they will likely play India Open champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, with reigning world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia waiting in the quarterfinal.
The other Indians in the draw are MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, who will face China's Ren Xiang Yu and Tan Qiang, a pair they have never played before. A win could see them take on fifth seeds Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are currently ranked 19th in the world.
(Photo: BAI)
Women's Doubles
Teenage pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand made a major breakthrough in their career last year when they reached the semifinals of the All, after being promoted to the main draw from the reserves.
This year, the world No 19 pair have a tricky draw as they will begin against seventh seeds Thai pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.
The pair may stage an upset as they have built up a good momentum in the last one month. They were unbeaten at the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship with wins over Malaysians Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan and also won the national championship.
Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam are the other Indian pair in the draw, who start against Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee, who they are playing for the first time. If they win, they will be up against second seeds Japanese pair Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida.
Mixed Doubles
Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto are the only Indian representatives in the category. They will start against the eighth-seeded pair from Germany, Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Lohau.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino are the other seeds in the quarter.
(With inputs from IANS)
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