Top Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, will look to establish their groove when the Asia Badminton Championships go off in Dubai on Wednesday. The qualifying rounds for the 40th edition of the famed continental championship began on Tuesday, with the main draw including all of the best players starting on Wednesday. India will face a difficult assignment in returning with a medal, given that the majority of the best players have struggled with rhythm and form this season.
Dinesh Khanna won the only gold medal for India in ABC in 1965, and athletes like Sindhu, Prannoy, and Lakshya will need to compete at the top of their games to end the championship drought. India has won 17 medals overall at ABC.
After a protracted injury layoff, Sindhu has showed some promise by making it all the way to the Madrid Spain Masters finals. The eighth-seeded Indian will look to bring it against Taiwanese opponent Wen Chi-hsu as she kicks off her season.
Malvika Bansod, the top seed and last year's finalist in women's singles, will compete against Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, while Aakarshi Kashyap will take against Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi of Indonesia.
The sixth-seeded men's doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the Swiss Open super 300 championship earlier this year, will face Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia in the opening round.
In addition to MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, the conflict also involves Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala.
The bronze-medal winning women's doubles team at the Commonwealth Games, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, will compete against Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto from Indonesia.
Ashwini Bhat, Shikha Gautam, Haritha Manazhiyil, and Ashna Roy are all involved in the conflict.
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