File photo of Lakshya Sen.© X (formerly Twitter)
Ace shuttler Lakshya Sen is set to spearhead India’s challenge at the Canada Open 2024 badminton tournament, which is set to spearhead the nation’s challenge on Tuesday. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist will look to defend his crown in the upcoming edition. He won the championship last year by defeating the Asian Games gold medallist Li Shifeng of the People’s Republic of China in straight games. Lakshya is seeded fourth in the upcoming edition, and he will begin his campaign against one of the players from the qualification rounds.
Along with the 22-year-old, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George and Ayush Shetty will also feature in the main draw of the men’s singles.
Currently, world No. 40 Rajawat reached the quarter-finals of the US Open last month. In the women’s category, Malvika Bansod will be aiming to keep the momentum in her favour that she gained in the US Open. Her campaign ended in the semi-finals after Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira inflicted defeat on her.
Along with Malvika, Tanya Hemanth and Anupama Upadhyaya will also feature in the women’s singles main draw.
With the world No. 3 ranked pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, missing out in the men’s doubles event, India’s challenge will be led by world No. 43 Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K.
In the women’s doubles event, India’s challenge will be spearheaded by world No. 23, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. Seeded seventh, Treesa and Gayatri made it to the quarter-finals at the US Open. In the Canada Open, they have been handed a first-round bye.
In the mixed doubles event, the Indian pairs of Kona Tarun-Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli and Rohan Kapoor-Gadde Ruthvika Shivani will face each other in the first round.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World Championships bronze medallist HS Prannoy will not compete in the Canada Open.
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