World Championships: Tough draw for Indian shuttlers | Badminton News – Times of India

Fresh from their exploits at the Commonwealth Games, Indian shuttlers will be looking to win maximum medals at the BWF World Championships, scheduled to be held in Tokyo from August 22 to 28.
The draw which was released on Wednesday pits the Indians against the best in the world. 2019 world champion PV Sindhu, who fared poorly at the last edition, will be keen to make amends this time.
The world No.7 got a bye in the first round and is in the top half of the draw. Sindhu is expected to beat two Chinese – Han Yue and Wang Zhi Yi – in the second and third rounds before running into her nemesis An Se Young of South Korea. The seventh seeded India is yet to beat the third seeded youngster despite playing five matches against her.
Saina Nehwal, who is at the bottom-half of the draw, will begin against Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong. If she gets past Yi, Saina will square up against sixth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan. The other Indian girl, Malvika Bansod plays Line Christophersen of Denmark.
Four Indian men qualified in the singles category and three of them – Lakshya Sen, Kidammbi Srikanth and HS Prannoy – are on the same side while Sai Praneeth is in the top half of the draw.
Lakshya, who won bronze in 2021, got a tough first round opponent in Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus of Denmark while Prannoy is expected to meet second seed Kento Momota of Japan. Of late, Momota is finding it tough to clear the first few rounds and Prannoy may face Lakshya in the pre-quarterfinals. Though Lakshya enjoys a 2-1 win-loss record, Prannoy won the last match at the Indonesia Open in June.
Men’s doubles specialists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got a bye in the first round and easier opponents in the second. But in the pre-quarters they will have to be at their best when they play Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia.
Four Indian women’s doubles team and two mixed pairs also qualified for the World Championships.

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