World Championships: Satwit-Chirag are the favorites to win the championship while HS Prannoy and Sen spearhead India’s medal push

At the BWF World Championships, which get underway here on Monday, the in-form team of HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will be in the driver’s seat for India’s medal hopes.

The nation’s top doubles team, Satwiksaraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who are ranked second in the world, will also be the focus of attention as they attempt to improve the color of the bronze medal they won in the last competition.

Since the tournament’s inception in 1977, when it initially began, and before it became a biannual event from 1983 to 2005, India has won 13 medals, including one gold, four silver, and eight bronze medals. Since then, with the exception of the Olympic year, it has become a yearly occasion.

The first Indian to earn a medal at the World Championships was the famous Prakash Padukone, who took home a bronze in 1983. However, the nation’s shuttlers, headed by PV Sindhu, have been able to win at least one medal since 2011.

With five medals, Sindhu, the 2019 champion, is the most successful Indian. However, she hasn’t been able to stand on the podium since the Basel competition and hasn’t looked like herself this season.

However, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen added silver and bronze to India’s medal total in the 2021 competition, while Satwik and Chirag won bronze in the 2022 competition.

Prannoy, who placed at the quarterfinal stage in both 2021 and 2022, and who would be the favorite this time given his solid performance in the previous 12 months, is one player who has been lurking around the podium in recent editions.

Prannoy is in strong place to check off another box when he faces Finland’s Kalle Koljonen, who is ranked 56th in the world, when his campaign gets underway. Prannoy has already won the Malaysia Masters and finished in the top three at the Australian Open.

The tough Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo of Indonesia is set to be the ninth-seeded Indian’s next opponent.

As he begins the tournament against Mauritius’s No. 110-ranked Georges Julien Paul and is anticipated to play Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin next, Sen too will want to stay until the weekend. If he performs well, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the third seed, is expected to be his opponent in round 3.

With Paris qualifying on the line, Srikanth would want to rapidly turn his inconsistent play around in the pre-Olympic season. This season, his game has imploded at important moments.

The Japanese Kenta Nishimoto, ranked 15th in the world, will be a more challenging opponent for the 30-year-old Guntur native. However, the Indian will have enough confidence when he starts his campaign here thanks to a 6-3 advantage in head-to-head matches against the Japanese player.

Srikanth now gets a better draw thanks to Indonesia’s world number two Anthony Ginting’s retirement, and if he plays to his capabilities, the Indian, ranked 20 overall, could at least go to the quarterfinals.

Sindhu, who won a bronze medal in 2013 and 2014 and a silver medal in 2017 and 2018, has been given a bye and will face the winner of the match between Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam and Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.

However, Satwik and Chirag’s shoulders will bear the weight of expectations most heavily considering their amazing performance in 2023, which included capturing titles at the Indonesia Open, Asia Championships, Swiss Open, and Korea Open.

According to their dominant run this season, the second seeds, who earned a bye in the first round, are predicted to advance far in the draw.

The two-time All England semifinalist Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand have both received a bye.

There are many more Indians competing, including Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam, Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy, and Venkat Prasad/Juhi Dewangan.

Copenhagen will host the championships five times, more than any other host city. The occasion was previously held in the Danish capital in 1983, 1991, 1999, and 2014.

Players are likely to engage in a physical struggle at the Royal Arena, which debuted in February 2017, when the action is sluggish.