Satwik-Chirag's absence dims India's chances at Asia Championships

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will not be able to regain their Asian title as the latter is yet to recover from the back injury he suffered at the All England Championships last month.

The duo’s absence affects India’s chances of making the podium at the Ningbo Badminton Asia Championships as PV Sindhu and men’s singles shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen are struggling.

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Sindhu begins against Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo of Indonesia and is expected to face third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the second round. Though Sindhu enjoys a 14-11 win-loss record against Yamaguchi, the Indian has failed to get past the first two rounds in the last two years. The last time she beat Yamaguchi was at the Thailand Open in May 2022. Thereafter, she has lost twice to the Japanese shuttler.

Malvika Bansod, Anupama Upadyaya and Aakarshi Kashyap are also in the main draw.

World No.16 Lakshya Sen will face Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei first. Lakshya lost to Lee in the second round of the Swiss Open last month. If he manages to get past the world No.14, he may face former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and world No.1 Shi Yu Qi in the quarterfinals.

Battling fitness issues and struggling to get back to his best, Prannoy faces a formidable test against Lu Zu Guang of China in the first round. Kiran George and Priyanshu Rajawat are the other Indians in men’s singles.

Women’s doubles players Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who put up a good show in recent weeks, begin against qualifiers from Group B and are expected to run into top seeds Sheng Shu Liu and Ning Tan of China in the second round. Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra are in the bottom-half of the draw.

There are four Indian teams in the mixed doubles main draw.