Paris has been a special venue for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty — the world No.1 pair reached the final of a BWF Super 750 or higher event for the first time in the French capital. Three French Open finals, with two wins, makes it all that even more special.
Their triumph on Sunday also came at a venue that will stage badminton in the Olympics, which starts on July 26. “It feels really sweet. Paris has always been special for us. We have always played good badminton here. It has been a second home for us,” Shetty said.
“Happy for the win, but the Olympics are still six months away. There are a lot of tournaments before that. There is another tournament next week, so looking forward to that.”
They travel to Birmingham for the All England Open starting on Tuesday on a high, having won their first title of the year. The city is where Rankireddy and Shetty became the first Indian men’s pair to clinch Commonwealth Games gold in 2022.
They face a tough opening round against Indonesian giants Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan, who have been down of late but far from out. With the Olympic qualification cutoff on April 28, all top pairs will be eager to go deep at a tournament that offers the most points. Indian fans will keenly follow action because of the history and legacy of the tournament, once the unofficial World Championships. The pair will also bid to add to India’s sparse success — the singles triumphs of Prakash Padukone (1980) and Pullela Gopichand (2001). Saina Nehwal (2015) and Lakshya Sen (2022) both lost in the final.
Given their great form, it provides the best chance for Rankireddy and Shetty, the current flag-bearers of Indian badminton, to end the 23-year title wait for India.
Sindhu back in the mix
PV Sindhu is on a comeback and All England should provide an excellent opportunity to raise her game to the next level. Last season was one of the worst in her illustrious career with injuries and change of coaches not adding to her problems. Though she has played in only two competitions since shifting to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru, the spark that led to two Olympic and five World Championship medals is again noticeable in Sindhu’s game.
At the Badminton Asia Team Championships, she beat a top 10 player – China’s Han Yue – after long while guiding India to an unprecedented gold at Shah Alam. Last week, the 28-year-old unleashed her feisty game to beat Canada’s Michelle Li and American Beiwen Zhang and enter her first quarter-final since October.
In the last eight too, she moved and anticipated well to take a game off reigning Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei. Though she lost, the performance clearly showed that mentor Prakash Padukone and new coach Agus Dwi Santoso are on track to get the best out of her. She starts against Germany’s Yvonne Li in Birmingham.
Like Rankireddy-Shetty and Sindhu, HS Prannoy is all but assured of Olympic qualification. Lakshya Sen is not. He is joint 15th in the Race to Paris rankings, but above Kidambi Srikanth and Priyanshu Rajawat (both joint 17th). The one finishing in the top 16 by April 28 will get a shot at an Olympic medal.
The real fight for qualification is between Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa and Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly. The latter has been India’s top women’s doubles combine for the last few years, but Tanisha and Ashwini have broken through with superb performances after joining hands early last year.
Having reached five finals, winning three, in 2023, Tanisha and Ashwini are 11th while Treesa and Gayatri are joint 14th. The one ranked higher will earn the Olympic spot.
