Satwik-Chirag eye strong start at China Open ahead of World Championships

India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will aim to build momentum for the upcoming World Championships when they compete at the China Open Super 1000 badminton tournament starting here on Tuesday.
The China Open is the last major event before the World Championships, scheduled from August 25 to 31 in Paris, and all players will be hoping to register some wins to build confidence ahead of the prestigious tournament.
Currently ranked world No. 15, Satwik and Chirag have reached three semifinals this season, including the Malaysia and India Open in January, but their progress was stalled by Satwik’s health concerns and Chirag’s back injury, which kept them out for several weeks.
On their return, the duo made the semifinals at the Singapore Open and the quarterfinals at the Indonesia Open. However, they suffered a setback last week, losing to Paris Olympic silver medallists China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang at the Japan Open. The former world No. 1 pair will look to bounce back quickly when they open against Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura.
In singles, Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, and PV Sindhu will hope to regain form at the USD 2,000,000 event. Lakshya, currently ranked 18, has struggled with consistency this season, managing only a quarterfinal finish at the All England.
The 23-year-old has battled shoulder, ankle, and back issues. He showed glimpses of form in a narrow three-game defeat to world No. 3 Shi Yu Qi in Indonesia but fell in the second round at Tokyo last week against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.
He opens against China’s fifth seed Li Shi Feng.
Prannoy, who won World Championships and Asian Games bronze medals in 2023, has dropped to world No. 35. The former top 10 player returns after missing the Japan Open and faces Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the first round.
For Sindhu, now ranked 16, a quarterfinal at the India Open remains her best result this year. The 30-year-old former world champion has suffered multiple early exits despite training under Indonesian coach Irwansyah Adi Pratama for the past six months.
Last week, she lost to Korea’s Sim Yu Jin, marking her fifth first-round exit this year.
Sindhu opens against Japan’s sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki, the 18-year-old former world junior champion.
Among others, Unnati Hooda, a Taipei Open semifinalist earlier this year, faces Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour in the first round, while Anupama Upadhyaya takes on Lin Hsiang Ti of Chinese Taipei.
In women’s doubles, Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi, the Panda sisters Rutaparna and Swetaparna, and the pair of Amrutha Pramuthesh-Sonali Singh are in the fray, while Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde will compete in mixed doubles.