Satwiksairaj Rankireddy And Chirag Shetty At The Forefront As Indians Chase Glory At All England

Newly-crowned French Open champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be expected to continue their rich vein of form, while the seasoned P V Sindhu will hope to ace a trial by fire to end India's 23-year-old title drought at the All England Championships starting on Tuesday. Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001) are the only ones from India to have claimed the title with Saina Nehwal (2015) and Lakshya Sen (2022) coming close when they finished runner-ups. The prestigious tournament holds an iconic status in India but over the years, its exclusivity has somewhat dwindled as it is now one of the four Super 1000 event on the international calendar.

Satwik and Chirag have already won a Super 1000 title in Indonesia last year and given their stellar run this season, expectations would be high when the two towering shuttlers take the court this week, following their exploits at Paris on Sunday night.

Satwik and Chirag, the Asian Games champions, have bossed their opponents this season, reaching three finals -- Malaysia Super 1000, and India Super 750 before winning at Paris -- and will remain India's biggest hopes of a title finish at the Utilita Arena Birmingham here.

Standing in front of them in the opening round will be the veteran Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, the three-time world champions. They have caused a lot of heartbreaks for the Indians in the past.

The 'Daddies' had defeated Satwik and Chirag the last time they faced in the French Open last year and the Indians will be eyeing revenge.

If they cross the opening hurdle, the Indian duo is likely to face the Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. The Malaysians are formidable foes but Satwik and Chirag