Badminton
Denmark Open: Lakshya Sen draws against Lu Guang Zu, Sindhu to face Pai
Indian shuttlers have got decent draw for the upcoming Denmark Open Super 750 tournament starting next week.
Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu will be leading Indian challenge at the Swiss Open Super 300 in Basel.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen will return to action at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament starting next week.
The Indian shuttlers featured in the Arctic Open this week after a long break post-Olympics and the return was not good as both Sindhu and Lakshya suffered early exits.
While Sindhu lost in the first round against Michelle Li of Canada, Lakshya lost to Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei in the second round after getting a walkover in the first round.
In the men's singles at the Denmark Open, Lakshya has an interesting draw where he will face Lu Guang Zu of China in the first round with a possibility of facing Jonatan Christie in the second round and world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarter-finals.
It will not be easy for Lakshya who bottled a one-game lead against Chou in the Arctic Open.
While Lakshya is the only Indian in men's singles, four Indian shuttlers will feature in the women's singles.
PV Sindhu has been drawn against Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the first round and can face Han Yue of China in the second round.
Malvika Bansod will face Nguyen Thuy Linh of Vietnam in the first round and might face fellow Indian Aakarshi Kashyap in the second round who will be up against Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the first round.
Youngster Unnati Hooda will face Lauren Lam of the USA in the first round.
India won't have any representation in the men's doubles as the dynamic duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out of the tournament. They are yet to return to action after a heartbreaking loss in the quarter-final of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
India will have two pairs in the women's doubles as Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand take on fifth-seed Pearly Tan and Thinnah Muralitharan.
The other Indian pair of Swetaparna Panda and Rutaparna Panda will face Chang Ching Hui/Yang Ching Tung of Chinese Taipei in the first round.
In mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy will face Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang of Canada in the first round while Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath will face Rehan Kusharjanto and Lisa Kusumawati of Indonesia in the first round.
