The gold medal-winning men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with Lakshya Sen who competes in men’s singles, have made the decision to withdraw from the Arctic Open- a BWF Super 500 Badminton tournament set to commence on Tuesday.
Among the others opting out are emerging talent Priyanshu Rajawat, the men’s doubles combination of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, and the women’s pair consisting of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly.
In contrast, Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu, two prominent names in Indian badminton, have confirmed their participation in the competition to be held in Finland. Additionally, the main draw will feature promising young players such as Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Rutuparna Panda and Sriparna Panda, as well as Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponappa.
In the men’s singles category, Srikanth is set to compete against Max Weisskirchen from Germany in the opening round, and there is a potential encounter with the reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Manjunath and George will kick off their respective campaigns, facing Weng Hong Yang and Toma Popov Junior in their initial matches.
Shuttlecocks will take flight in the country of northern lights 🏸#ArcticOpen2023#IndiaontheRise#BadmintonTwitter #Badminton pic.twitter.com/a5rUiPmNYY
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) October 9, 2023
Sindhu will encounter a well-known adversary, Nozomi Okuhara, in her opening match and aim to commence with a victory. Malvika Bansod is scheduled to compete against Supainda Katethong from Thailand, while Aakarshi Kashyap’s opponent will be Lianne Tan from Belgium.
In the women’s doubles event, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponappa will launch their campaign by facing the fifth-seeded Japanese duo of Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto. While Rutaparna and Sriparna, will take on the seventh-seeded pairing of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.
Also Read: Sports Products to Boost Athlete’s Performance
