Asian Games 2023, India’s badminton schedule: Shuttlers chase maiden gold

India will be on the hunt for their first-ever Asiad gold medal in badminton at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China, from September 23 to October 8.

The badminton events at the 19th Asian Games are scheduled to be held from September 28 to October 7 at the Binjiang Gymnasium. Medals will be up for grabs in seven events - men’s and women’s teams, men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Badminton at the Asian Games will kick off with team events. The singles and doubles events start on October 2. Matches will be shown live in India.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will spearhead India’s challenge in women’s singles and team events. She settled for silver in Jakarta 2018 after losing to Tai Tzu Ying and will look to go one better this time.

London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who won bronze at the 2018 Jakarta Games, will not be competing this year.

The pair of Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly, 18th in the badminton world rankings for women’s doubles, will be medal hopefuls heading into the Asian Games. The duo won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games last year and will be making their Asian Games debut.

Veteran Ashwini Ponnappa, a member of the 2014 bronze medal-winning Indian team, has teamed up with Tanisha Crasto in women’s doubles. The 33-year-old Ponappa will be India’s most experienced shuttler at the Asian Games.

The Indian men’s badminton team boasts of HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth in men’s singles and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in men’s doubles – all of them are world championship medallists.

Prannoy is also India’s top-ranked men’s singles player at Hangzhou 2023. He clinched a bronze at the world badminton championships in Copenhagen in August. Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, also dubbed the Brothers of Destruction, will also look to impress after a stellar season, which saw them win the Swiss, Indonesia and Korea Opens.

At Jakarta 2018, Indian badminton players returned with one silver and one bronze, making it their best-ever show at the Asian Games.

Badminton made its debut at the Asian Games in 1962. Since then, India have one silver and nine bronze medals in the sport at the continental meet.

Indian badminton team for Asian Games 2023

Men’s singles: HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath

Men's doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, Dhruv Kapila/MR Arjun

Women's singles: PV Sindhu, Ashmita Chaliha, Anupama Upadhyaya, Malvika Bansod

Women’s doubles: Gayatri Gopichand/Treesa Jolly, Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto

Mixed doubles: Tanisha Crasto/Rohan Kapoor, N Sikki Reddy/Sai Pratheek K

Asian Games 2023 badminton schedule

All in India Standard Times (IST)

Where to watch Asian Games 2023 badminton matches live in India

Live streaming of the Asian Games 2023 badminton will be available on Sony Liv. The matches will be telecast live on the Sony Sports Network TV channel in India.