Indian shuttlers hope for a strong start in this high-stakes Olympic year at the Malaysia Open

Top Indian shuttlers, including HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen, will be looking to start the new season well as they compete in the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton event in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. There is a Paris Olympic qualifier up for grabs. Indian shuttlers have a busy schedule ahead of them and a lot will be at stake as they aim to qualify for the Paris Games by placing among the world’s top-16 by the end of April.

World No. 8 Prannoy, who was leading the Olympic race, had a tremendous season, winning the Malaysia Masters super 500 and taking home his first bronze medals at the Asian Games and the World Championships. Additionally, he finished in the top 500 at the Australia Open.

The eighth-seeded 31-year-old hopes to carry on his recent winning streak when he takes on Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in the opening round. Antonsen won the Korea Open in 2023 after overcoming an injury.

Lakshya and Kidambi Srikanth, who experienced quite different outcomes in the previous season, will also be the focus of attention as they attempt to place in the top 16.

While Srikanth, ranked 24, has been reserved and has only achieved four quarterfinal finishes in 2023, world no. 16 Sen won the Canada Open super 500 before losing his form in the latter stages of the tournament.

Sen and Srikanth will have difficult opponents in China’s Weng Hong Yang and Indonesia’s sixth-seeded Jonatan Christie in the opening round of this tournament, respectively.

In the men’s doubles arena, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have seemed menacing. They broke a ton of records huge become the most successful Indian shuttlers in 2023.

Within a year, they had won gold at the Asian Games, a super 1000 title in Indonesia, the Korea Open super 500, the Swiss Open super 300, and finally, although momentarily, a career-best standing of World No. 1.

The second-seeded team, which advanced to the semifinals in 2023, will try to carry on their successful streak and advance further in the draw when they take on Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in their opening round.

The women’s doubles team of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, full of confidence after reaching three finals in December, will now try to make the correct decisions this season to get into the world top 16.

In the Olympic Games Qualification standings, the pair is now ranked 21st, ahead of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who are ranked 27th.

The Guwahati Masters super 100 champions Ashwini and Tanisha will play Francesca Corbett and Allison Lee of the USA in the first round.

There won’t be any Indian participation in the women’s singles category while two-time Olympic champion P V Sindhu recovers from a knee injury. In mixed doubles, there are also no Indian competitors.

After achieving this classification the previous year, the Malaysia Open is now one of the four BWF World Tour Super 1000 events. The other three events on the global circuit are the All England Championships, the China Open, and the Indonesian Open.