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Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will return at the Singapore Open after a two-month break.
Satwik-Chirag will return to action this week at the Singapore Open (Picture credit: Badminton Photo)
Star men’s doubles shuttlers Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be in focus when they begin their Singapore Open campaign this week, as they return to action after a gap of two months, during which Shetty recovered from a back injury that forced the duo to withdraw midway through the All England Open.
Satwik and Chirag pulled out of the Sudirman Cup as well last month, since the former contracted chickenpox.
Now fit, Satwik and Chirag, who reached the semifinals of the season-opening Malaysia Open and India Open earlier this year, will begin their campaign against Malaysia’s Choong Hon Jian and Muhammad Haikal.
Men’s singles shuttler HS Prannoy, who made a Round of 16 exit at last week’s Malaysia Masters, will look to at least make a quarterfinal appearance in Singapore, with the top eight eluding him for a while now.
Prannoy opens his campaign against Rasmus Gemke, and if he manages to get the better of the Dane, he is expected to come up against third-seeded Anders Antonsen.
Lakshya Sen, who made a quarterfinal appearance at the All England Open but hasn’t seen much success since then, will look to begin his campaign on a high against Lin Chun-Yi. A win against him might pit Lakshya against Li Shi Feng.
Lakshya, a 2021 World Championships bronze-medallist, has struggled to find form since reaching the Paris Olympics semifinal.
A lot of eyes will also be on double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who made a quarterfinal appearance at the India Open but has since been found wanting on court. She starts her campaign against Wen Yu Zhang, and a first-round win might see her face Chen Yu Fei in the second round.
Eighth-seeded women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will play Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun in the opening round and are expected to face Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the quarters.
The mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, who made a quarterfinal appearance at the Malaysia Masters, will begin their campaign against Cheng Xing and Zhang Chi. A win in the first round can pit them against Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran in the second.
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