Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are looking to extend their winning streak after winning the Korea Open, however, attention will be on PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy as the Japan Open Super 750 badminton event gets underway in Tokyo on Tuesday. Satwik-Chirag, the Indian doubles team that won the 2022 Commonwealth Games, surprised the world No. 1 team of Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in a tough final on Sunday, extending their winning streak to 10 games.
As the third-seeded Indians take on Leo Rolly Carnando-Daniel Marthin of Indonesia in the opening round, they are in the best shape of their careers, having won the Swiss Open, Asian Championships, and Indonesia Open this year.
The next match is on July 25, 2023. The 2023 Japan Open, which has been a part of the Japan Open championships since 1977, is the eighteenth event on the 2023 BWF World Tour.
The most talked-about aspect of Indian badminton in the year leading up to the Olympics in Paris has been Sindhu’s shaky form.
The former world champion and two-time Olympic medalist has fallen to world No. 17 after six of the 12 BWF World Tour events this year ended in her elimination in the first round.
The most recent was in the Korean Open last week, where she was coached by Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, the 2003 All-England champion, and lost to lower-ranked Pai Yu-Po.
Even when playing against players on the lower levels, Sindhu has a history of making mistakes and having trouble scoring. To compete more effectively against her opponents, she will need to improve her quick, attacking style.
This time, Zhang Yi Man, whom Sindhu defeated in the Malaysian Open quarterfinals on her way to reaching the semi-finals in May of this year, will stand in her way in the first round. With her most recent victory, Sindhu now has a 2-2 win-loss record versus the Chinese player who is ranked 20th, and she will try to make up any lost ground.
Sindhu succeeds in getting beyond the first-round challenge, she will likely face off against Tai Tzu Ying, her archrival, who has recently defeated the Indian nine times in a row in her 19-5 win-loss record.
The top-ranked player in India, Prannoy, who won his first BWF World Tour championship at the Malaysia Masters in May, fell two spots to tenth.