Satwik-Chirag eye home comfort as Sindhu returns
new delhi: The contingent is the biggest ever but focus would be on a handful of tried-and-tested names, especially the men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, when the Indian shuttlers go up against a world-class field in the India Open Super 750 tournament beginning here on Tuesday.
Despite the name, Indian success at the tournament hasn’t been particularly regular with none from the host nation winning any title in the past two editions.
The 21-strong group that will take the court this week would be desperate to change that statistic and make some amends after an ordinary Olympics campaign six months ago. The expectations would be especially high from Satwiksairaj and Chirag, who claimed the doubles title in 2022, the same year in which the currently erratic Lakshya Sen notched the men’s singles top honour.
The tournament will feature 18 of the world’s top-20 men’s singles players and 14 of the top-20 women’s singles shuttlers. Chirag and Satwiksairaj, who are former world No. 1s, have made a good start to the season by reaching the semifinals of the Malaysia Super 1000 last week.
“Winning a tournament is always the goal when we enter, and I wouldn’t say we’re satisfied with just the semifinal finish. We want to go as deep as possible in the tournament here in India,” Chirag said.
They would be expected to do the same in the $950,000 event to be held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag, semifinalists at the 2024 China Masters, will face Malaysia’s Wei Chong Man and Kai Wun Tee in their opening round.
Despite an underwhelming 2024, one can never discount PV Sindhu, who would be back in action after missing the season-opener in Kuala Lumpur due to her wedding. The 29-year-old returned to winning ways, winning the Syed Modi International.
