Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty
India has fielded its biggest contingent in the India Open Super 750 tournament starting in New Delhi from Tuesday and all eyes will be on the consistently good performances of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The former world number one men’s doubles team won the 2022 India Open and made a good start to the 2025 season by reaching the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament last week. Despite the disappointment of the Paris Olympics, both have been India’s most reliable players in the last two years.
Satwik and Chirag, who have played the China Masters 2024 semi-finals, will face Wei Chong Man and Kei Wun Tee of Malaysia in the first round. They will face tough competition from China’s Olympic silver medalists Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, Paris Olympics bronze medalists Aaron Chia and Soh Wui Yik of Malaysia, Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen and Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
Sindhu will return
This year, 21 entries have been received from India which includes two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu. Sindhu is making a comeback after missing the Malaysia Masters due to her marriage. 29 year old Sindhu from Hyderabad had won the Syed Modi International title but mostly only Indian players played in it. Sindhu will face Anupama Upadhyay in the first round. She may next play Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki, who defeated her in the Swiss Open last year. Syed Modi title winner Lakshya Sen was eliminated in the opening round in Malaysia. Lakshya, who had won the title here three years ago, will face China’s Hong Yang Weng in the first round.
H S Prannoy, who took a five-month break after his Paris Olympics pre-quarterfinal exit, had crashed out in the second round in Malaysia. Here in the first round he will face Li Yang Hsu of Chinese Taipei. If he wins this, he may face competition from Jonathan Christie of Indonesia. The tournament, to be held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, features stalwarts like Olympic champion Victor Axelsen, An Si Young and world number one Shi Yuqi.
(Input – PTI)