BWF World Championships 2022, live streaming: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth carry India’s hopes in PV Sindhu’s absence
Saina Nehwal will look to make a strong return while 2021 world runners-up Kidambi Srikanth will also be in fray. Watch live!
Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medallist Lakshya Sen will be one of India’s top medal hopes at the BWF World Championships 2022 badminton tournament, starting at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan from Monday. Matches will be live streamed in India.
Lakshya Sen, seeded ninth, clinched a bronze medal in the 2021 edition of the tournament in Huelva. Last time, he had entered the championship unseeded but went on to cause major upsets, including the victory over Tokyo Olympics semi-finalist Kevin Cordon. He lost to compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the semi-final and settled for bronze.
India will expect 12th seed Kidambi Srikanth, who won silver in 2021, to fire on all cylinders too. He was the first Indian man to reach the finals of the BWF World Championships and return with a silver medal. He lost to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight sets in the final last time around.
B Sai Praneeth, the bronze medallist of the 2019 edition, is capable of springing a surprise, along with HS Prannoy.
The Indian men will have to pass through World No. 1 and top seed Viktor Axelsen for a podium finish. The All England Open champion has been on a 31-match winning streak. Defending champion Yew (seeded eighth), Anders Antonsen (third seed) of Denmark, and Lee Zii Jia (fifth seed) of Malaysia will make the competition stiff.
No PV Sindhu, but Saina Nehwal in the fray
The women’s singles section won’t feature Indian ace PV Sindhu and Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, both of whom are out due to stress fractures.
World No. 33 Saina Nehwal, unseeded this time, will be looking to return to form at the Tokyo meet. The former World No. 1 will try to gain the upper hand in the absence of Okuhara and Sindhu. She will face Cheung Ngan Yi in the first round, against whom she has a 3-1 head-to-head record. Saina has two World Championship medals - a silver in the 2015 edition, followed by a bronze in 2017.
Top seed and reigning champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan is the frontrunner for the title among the women, followed by Tai Tzu-Ying (second seed) of Taiwan and Chen Yufei (fourth seed) of China, who will return to the championship after a one-year gap.
In the doubles category, India will have high hopes from CWG gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
India have won 12 medals at the World Badminton Championships, but the only gold came in 2019 through PV Sindhu.
India, with 26 players, are third in terms of player representation at the world meet behind Japan (32) and Malaysia (27).
Indian squad for BWF World Championships 2022
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy
Women’s singles: Saina Nehwal, Malvika Bansod
Men’s doubles: Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy, Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjula, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila
Women’s doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Ponnappa/N Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam, Pooja Dandu/Sanjana Santosh
Mixed doubles: Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto and Venkat Gaurav Prasad/Juhi Dewangan
Where to watch BWF World Championships 2022 live in India
The BWF World Championships 2022 badminton matches will be telecast live on the Sports18 and DD Sports TV channels in India.
Live streaming of the badminton world championships 2022 will be available on Voot and JioTV.