In Paris, Lakshya Sen faces a challenging opening match against top seed Shi Yu Qi, while former champion P V Sindhu aims to rebound from a disappointing performance as Indian players prepare for tough contests at the BWF World Championships starting Monday. This year has been difficult for India’s top athletes, with injuries and inconsistent performances affecting their preparation. Sen, currently ranked 21, returns to the French capital a year after a heartbreaking fourth-place finish at the Olympics. Since that time, the 24-year-old from Almora, who took home a bronze at the 2021 championships, has struggled, with a quarterfinal appearance at the All England being his best result in 2024.
He has faced challenges in close matches against Li Shi Feng, Kodai Naraoka, and Shi, who holds a 3-1 lead in their head-to-head encounters. The Chinese world No. 1 is in excellent form, having secured three Super 1000 titles this season and previously defeated Sen in three games earlier this year in Indonesia. In women’s singles, Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist and the 2019 world champion, looks to recover from a surprising loss to fellow Indian Unnati Hooda at the China Open. As the most decorated Indian player with five world championship medals, Sindhu will start her tournament against Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova.
She has had a challenging season, with her best finish being a quarterfinal at the India Open, and is now ranked 15. She may face world No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi of China in the round of 16. Prannoy, who earned a bronze in the 2023 edition, will begin his campaign against Finland’s Joakim Oldorff, with a potential second-round clash against world No. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark on the horizon for the world No. 34 Indian. In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, seeded ninth, have received a first-round bye and will meet either compatriots Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruben Kumar or Chinese Taipei’s Liu Kuang Heng and Yang Po Han in the second round.