new delhi: India’s top shuttlers, including PV Sindhu and Lakshay Sen, will look to convert recent form into results on home courts when the $950,000 India Open Super 750 begins here on Tuesday.
The Indian players, however, have struggled to fully capitalise on home advantage, with only a handful lifting the title in the last 15 years.
The draw once again will throw up early challenges for the home contingent, including a marquee all-Indian men’s singles opener between Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty, while Sindhu begins against Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh.
Sindhu, a 2017 champion, comes into the Delhi leg on the back of a confidence-boosting run at the Malaysia Open Super 1000, where she reached the semifinals before losing to China’s Wang Zhiyi.
The tournament, to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, marked a timely lift for the two-time Olympic medallist after an injury-interrupted phase.
Sen, a 2022 India Open champion, has also had a volatile start to the season narrative. He ended 2025 by winning the Australian Open Super 500 and then suffered a setback at the Malaysia Open.
Ayush, on the other hand, announced himself in 2025 by winning the US Open Super 300 and has beaten the likes of Kodai Naraoka, Loh Kean Yew, Chou Tien Chen and Brian Yang.
Last week, the 20-year-old from Karnataka, a bronze medallist at the 2023 World Junior Championships, upset Paris bronze medallist Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia in the first round.
At Kuala Lumpur, Lakshya had lost to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu, who now awaits H.S. Prannoy in the India Open first round.
A 2015 winner, Kidambi Srikanth, who reached the finals of Malaysia Masters super 500 and Syed Modi International in 2025, has been drawn against Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi.
In women’s singles, apart from Sindhu, India will bank on Malvika Bansod, who faces Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po, while a cluster of young Indians will look to use the home conditions to push into the
deeper rounds.