Badminton Asia C'ships: Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu to lead Indian charge – Preview

The 2025 Badminton Asia Championships is all set to commence on Tuesday in Ningbo, China.

The prestigious continental competition will see top shuttlers from across Asia flock down to the Chinese city for an intense six days of badminton action.

In the absence of premier men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who have withdrawn from the competition with an injury, the Indian challenge in Ningbo will be led by Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu.

Sen will have a tough match to start off the tournament, drawn to face Lee Chia Hao – the 2025 All England Super 1000 finalist - right in the first round.

If he makes it until the quarter-finals, the Indian will possibly have to go up against the men's singles top seed and world No 1 Shi Yu Qi.

Shi has been in tremendous form in this season so far, having won both the Super 1000 tournaments – Malaysia Open and All England – of the year.

The other Indians in men's singles draw – HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, and Kiran George – also will have their task cut out with six of the world's top nine players in contention. Among the three not in action – Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen – don't compete in Asia, whereas Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia has withdrawn.

In women's singles, PV Sindhu will have a lot to prove after a disappointing start to the year. The double Olympic medallist has stumbled in the opening round in last three of her tournaments – Indonesia Masters, All England, and Swiss Open.

Sindhu will be up against a lower ranked Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo in the opening round. If she is able to withstand the Indonesian, she might well run into an old foe in Akane Yamaguchi next.

Anupama Upadhayay and Aakarshi Kashyap will have to face eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon and second seed Han Yue, respectively, in their opening round matches.

Malvika Bansod, meanwhile, has to overcome China's Fang Jie Gao.

Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy-Sai Pratheek will be the two Indian pairs in men's doubles with Satwik-Chirag not in contention.

Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and the young Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra will compete in women's doubles.

India will also have four mixed double pair in action – Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde, Sathish Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath, and Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh.

Indian Squad

Men's Singles: Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George

Women's Singles: PV Sindhu, Malvika Bansod, Anupama Upadhyay, Aakarshi Kashyap

Men's Doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy-Sai Pratheek

Women's Doubles: Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra

Mixed Doubles: Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde, Sathish Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath, Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh

Schedule

The schedule for 2025 Badminton Asia Championships is yet to be announced.

The tournament will start with qualifying rounds on Tuesday. The finals will be played on Sunday, 13 April, 2025.

Where to watch?

You can catch all the LIVE action from 2025 Badminton Asia Championships on Badminton Asia's YouTube channel.