BWF World C'ships: Ayush Shetty to start against world No 1; easier route for Sindhu

India's Ayush Shetty will be up against world No 1 Shi Yu Qi of China in the very first round of the 2026 BWF World Championships, starting later this month.

This is the second straight edition of the Badminton World Championships, where an Indian shuttler goes up against Shi in the first round after Lakshya Sen's run in into the Chinese shuttler last year.

Sen, this time around, has a better draw to start off. Seeded 14th, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist will face off against Austria's Collins Valentine Filimon in the first round.

He, however, is likely to face Thailand's former world champion and three-time medallist Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the Round of 16.

Elsewhere in women's singles, PV Sindhu is drawn in the same half as world No 1 An Se Young of South Korea but will not face her before the semi-finals.

Sindhu will start against Ireland's Sophia Noble before having a potential Round of 16 against China's Wang Zhi Yi and a potential quarter-final against Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardini in what could be two tricky battles.

Unnati Hooda, the other Indian in women's singles, will start against Myanmar's Thet Thuzar in the first round.

In men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will return to action following an injury lay-off for the former.

Rankireddy-Shetty, seeded fifth, start with the first round bye, just like all seeded players in the doubles draws.

Hariharan Amsakaruanan and Arjun MR will, however, start in Round 1 against Scott Guildea and Paul Reynolds of Ireland.

India will not have any seeded pair in women's doubles, though both Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi will be in contention, starting their campaign against two different Spain duos in the first Round 1.

In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila have a first round bye, while Ruthvika Gadde and Rohan Kapoor will be up against Jonathan Bing-Crystal Lai of Canada.