India Open: Tricky Draw Awaits Home Shuttlers

Top Indian shuttlers, including HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen, have been handed tricky draws at next month's India Open Super 750 badminton tournament as they gear up to exploit the home advantage with Paris Olympics qualification at stake. With the race to Paris heading into its final stretch, Indian shuttlers will look to earn valuable points at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open to be held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium from January 16 to 21. While Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and bronze medallist Prannoy will aim to boost their position in the world ranking, the likes of Kidambi Srikanth, Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat will be gunning for the second Indian spot at the Games.

According to the Olympics qualification rules, two Indian men's singles players can participate in the Games only if both of them are ranked among the Top-16 at the end of the qualification process on April 30.

It will be an all Indian opening match between 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sen and Rajawat, while eighth seed Prannoy will be open against Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.

He will face the winner of the match between Sen and Rajawat if he clears the first-round hurdle.

Former champion Srikanth, currently in 24th position in the race to Paris rankings, will meet Hong Kong's Lee Cheuk Yiu in the opening round and has a potential second-round clash against defending champion Kunlavut Viditsarn of Thailand.

In men's doubles, former champions and second seeds Satwik and Chirag will kick off their challenge against World No. 25 Fang-Jen Lee and Fang-Chih Lee of Taipei in the opening round and are expected to go deeper in the competition.

The women's doubles combinations of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and