India Open 2023 | Lakshya Sen to face HS Prannoy in first round, PV Sindhu could face Saina Nehwal
The top-seeded Indians at the BWF Super 750 India Open 2023 will face some challenging opponents. The tournament's draw pitted Lakshya Sen against HS Prannoy, who last week rose to his highest career ranking of eighth; when Lakshya and Prannoy last competed, Lakshya prevailed at the Denmark Open.
The third-ranked Indian in the world, Kidambi Srikanth, is also in the same quarter as Lakshya and Prannoy. The world's top player, Viktor Axelsen, is his opponent in the opening round. The second well-known name in the same draw is Kento Momota. In the women's singles, PV Sindhu will compete for the first time since the August Commonwealth Games when she takes on Thailand's Supanida Katethong.
However, Saina Nehwal, who will open her campaign by taking on Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, might be Sindhu's opponent in the second round. The same sector also houses Chen Yufei of China. Malvika Bansod and Akarshi Kashyap are the other Indian players in the women's singles draw. In addition to other top-seeded Indians, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will open their campaign against Jeppe Nay and Lasse Molhede of Denmark. However, they are also in a difficult quarter that includes the Japanese team ranked No. 2 in the world, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.
The other men's doubles team from India is Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun. In the opening round, they will compete against Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen of Denmark. Meanwhile, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly are the best women's doubles team in the fray. Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam are a part of the draw too.Â
As far as the mixed doubles is concerned, the world no.19 pair of Ishan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Castro is the only Indian team in the main draw of the competition.