4 months ago
2
With renewed vigour, Indian shuttlers, including the experienced duo of Lakshya Sen and P.V. Sindhu, volition oculus a beardown commencement to the twelvemonth erstwhile they instrumentality connected the world's champion astatine the season-opening $1,450,000 Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament, opening successful Kuala Lumpur connected Tuesday (January 6, 2026).
Indian badminton endured a hard 2025 marked by injuries and inconsistent performances astatine the apical level. The absorption is present connected making an aboriginal interaction and fine-tune preparations for adjacent week's India Open Super 750 tourney successful Delhi.
Lakshya, a 2021 satellite championships bronze-medallist, was the agleam spot past season, returning to winning ways with a rubric astatine the Australian Open Super 500 aft a thin tally pursuing his fourth-place decorativeness astatine the Paris Olympics.
The 24-year-old from Almora, who besides reached the last of the Hong Kong Open, volition look to transportation that momentum erstwhile helium opens against Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh.
Youngster Ayush Shetty excessively showed promise, winning the US Open Super 300, and volition purpose to code issues of consistency erstwhile helium takes connected Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia, the Paris Olympics bronze-medallist.
Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, however, endured a torrid signifier owed to fittingness concerns and patchy form.
The erstwhile satellite champion, who missed competitions from October onwards portion recovering from a ft injury, volition beryllium keen to rediscover her champion erstwhile she opens her run against Chinese Taipei's Sung Shuo Yun.
Unnati Hooda, aft showing flashes of brilliance successful a play highlighted by her 2nd Odisha Open title, volition look Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist and 4th effect Chen Yu Fei of China.
Malvika Bansod, returning aft a six-month layoff owed to a near genu injury, volition statesman her run against seventh effect Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, a erstwhile satellite champion.
Focus volition besides beryllium connected Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded third, aft the 2 became the archetypal Indian men's brace to scope the semifinals of the season-ending World Tour Finals past year.
The erstwhile satellite No. 1 brace was India's astir accordant successful 2025, reaching finals of Hong Kong Open and China Masters too winning a 2nd World Championships bronze and aggregate semifinal finishes.
The Asian Games champions volition unfastened their rubric quest against Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan.
Another Indian men's doubles brace of experienced M.R. Arjun and 22-year-old Hariharan Amsakarunan volition look to measurement up against elite absorption aft a play successful which it won 4 International Challenge titles.
They triumphed astatine St Denis Reunion Open, Al Ain Masters, Türkiye International Challenge and Telangana India International Challenge.
The satellite No. 68 brace volition look Japan's Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita successful the opening round.
In women's doubles, Gayatri Gopichand, returning aft a enarthrosis wounded layoff, and Treesa Jolly precocious defended their rubric astatine the Syed Modi International.
The duo volition present instrumentality connected Indonesia's Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, hoping to proceed their upward stride.
Among others, the Panda sisters — Rutaparna and Swetaparna — volition conscionable Malaysia's 2nd seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, portion 3 Indian mixed doubles pairs — Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto, Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh — volition besides beryllium successful action.
