India Open 2022 badminton: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth top seeds
The new world champion Loh Kean Yew is seeded fifth for the Super 500 badminton tournament.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will be the top seed in the women’s singles while Saina Nehwal is seeded fourth for the India Open 2022 badminton tournament to be held in New Delhi from January 11 to 16.
World championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, meanwhile, enters the Super 500 event as the top seed in the men’s singles. He is followed by Tokyo Olympian B Sai Praneeth at No. 2 and world bronze winner Lakshya Sen at No. 3.
The new badminton world champion from Loh Kean Yew, who made history by becoming the first Singaporean to win the marquee event in the men’s singles, is seeded fifth.
HS Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap, and Sameer Verma are the other Indian contenders in the category.
In men’s doubles, Tokyo Olympians Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will lead the Indian challenge.
They will have their task cut out with Indonesia’s world No. 2 and top seeds Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan in the fray.
Sumeeth Reddy-Manu Attri, MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila and Vishnuvardhan-Krishna Prasad are the other Indian hopefuls in the men’s doubles.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy are second seeds while Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly are eighth in the draw.
Dhruv Kapila will team up with N Sikki Reddy in the mixed doubles category dominated by Malaysians.
The India Open Super 500 was cancelled in the last two years due to COVID-19 and will be the Badminton World Federation season opener in 2022.
It will be played at KD Jadhav Indoor Hall inside Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi behind closed doors.
The tournament will be followed by the Syed Modi International Super 300 from January 18 to 23 and the Odisha Open Super 100 from January 25 to 30.