The BWF World Championships are slated to take place in Tokyo starting on the 22nd of August. The championship scheduled from 22-28 August will witness some of the reigning Badminton champions face each other. The Indian badminton contingent, afresh from their impressive performance in the recently held Birmingham Commonwealth games will seek to snatch the victory from the defenders.
The Indian Badminton stars shined bright all through the commonwealth games in both the team and individual events. With an upset from Malaysia, the team event saw India claiming the silver medal. However, the individual event is where India dominated properly with 3 gold medals.
As Lakshya Sen moves forward to Tokyo to hopefully continue the terrific form, the women’s gold medallist PV Sindhu has pulled out of the championship. Sindhu announced the retreat a few days back stating an injured ankle as the reason. The BWF World Championships is a prime event to improve one’s world ranking and players are set to do just that.
Here are the Indian performers to look out for in the BWF championship.
- Saina Nehwal
Nehwal is coming straight to the BWF as she missed the Commonwealth games due to injury. With Sindhu out of the equation, Nehwal is the best bet for India to have a podium finish in the women’s league. The former bronze and silver winner will look to redeem her form. Saina Nehwal will sort it out with Cheung Ngan of Hong Kong in the first round of the league.
Srikant Kidambi
With an impressive but subdued performance in the Commonwealth games where he bagged a bronze, Kidambi will look to reach the top in this league. The current world no. 13 brought the first BWF silver to India. Hopes are high from Kidambi as the fans look out for him to tread on the winning path and complete with a medal to his name. Kidambi will face Nhat Nguyen in the first round and will face Sen and Prannoy in the further rounds.
Lakshya Sen
All set for the World Championships in Tokyo 🇯🇵
Let's go! All in ⚡ #yonex #teamyonex #worldchampionships2022 #badminton pic.twitter.com/61M6zuoqTP
— Lakshya Sen (@lakshya_sen) August 17, 2022
Lakshya Sen has proved to be a true Badminton prodigy for India with an impressive performance in Thomas Cup and the Commonwealth games. The starlet is being deemed as the poster boy for Indian Badminton. With a string of recent big wins, expectations are high from Lakshya Sen to finish victorious in the BWF championship. In his last BWF outing, Lakshya Sen settled with a bronze having lost to Srikant Kidambi. Sen will compete with Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in the first round on the 22nd.
S. Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty
Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty wins men's doubles GOLD 🥇title at Commonwealth Games 🏸#TeamIndia 🇮🇳 #CWG2022 pic.twitter.com/OvDkRgtZni
— Doordarshan Sports (@ddsportschannel) August 8, 2022
The double’s pair Rankireddy and Shetty delivered a stellar performance at the Commonwealth games bagging gold for India. However, the pair is yet to breach past the third round in the BWF championship. Having reached Tokyo on a high from their latest win, the pair will look forward to reaching the position assuring a medal to them.
H.S Prannoy
Up next 🔜 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 🇯🇵
See you in Japan 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/7nAUGv17ir
— PRANNOY HS (@PRANNOYHSPRI) August 18, 2022
Prannoy currently rests in the Top 20 of the world rankings. The current in-form shuttler has maintained an impressive performance in the Swiss and Malaysia open. Moreover, Prannoy played a key role in India’s historic win in the Thomas Cup along with Kidambi and Sen. With his reach limited to the quarter-finals in BWF up until now, he’d look forward to inching further towards a podium finish. Prannoy will clash with Luka Wraber in the first round of the league games.
