Calgary, Canada: Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are set to lead the charge for India at the Canada Open 2023 badminton tournament, scheduled to take place from July 4 to 9 in Calgary. The prestigious event, classified as a Badminton World Federation Super 500 tournament, will be held at the Markin-MacPhail Centre.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist and currently ranked 12th in the BWF world rankings, will be aiming for a fresh start after missing out on the Taipei Open 2023. The 27-year-old has faced early exits in her previous three BWF World Tour events, failing to progress beyond the second round. Sindhu’s disappointing performances include being knocked out in the round of 16 at the Indonesia Open, as well as early exits at the Singapore Open and the Thailand Open.
Sindhu’s most notable showing this season came at the Madrid Masters 2023, where she reached the final. She also made it to the semi-finals of the Malaysia Masters. In her opening match of the women’s singles campaign at the Canada Open, Sindhu will face Canada’s Talia Ng, currently ranked 61st in the world.
Joining Sindhu in the women’s singles main draw are Tasnim Mir and Gadde Ruthvika Shivani. Tasnim will face Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen, while Ruthvika Shivani will begin her campaign against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong.
In the men’s singles event, Lakshya Sen, ranked 19th in the world, will be India’s sole representative in the main draw. Sen faces a challenging encounter against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, currently ranked 3rd in the world.
Parupalli Kashyap, the Commonwealth Games 2014 champion, will start in the qualifiers against Germany’s Kai Schaefer. S. Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian and B. Sai Praneeth will also feature in the qualifiers.
Notably, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth have opted out of the Canada Open.
Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala will be India’s only pair in the men’s doubles, facing the French duo of Julien Maio and William Villeger in the opener. India’s top doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who recently claimed victory at the Indonesia Open, have decided to skip the tournament.
In the women’s doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Australia’s Kaitlyn Ea and Gronya Somerville. Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda will also compete in the main draw.
In the mixed doubles category, B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will face Japan’s Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo in the first round. Sai Pratheek K. and Tanisha Crasto will start in the qualifiers.
The Canada Open 2023 marks the fourth Super 500 tournament on the 2023 BWF World Tour calendar, following the Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Masters, and Thailand Open.
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