Indian badminton stars PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are determined to regain their form at the Denmark Open Super 750 tournament, which begins on Tuesday. Both players had a tough outing at the Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland, with Sindhu exiting in the first round and Sen falling in the second round. The prestigious Denmark Open, offering a prize pool of USD 850,000, marks the 13th event of the 2024 BWF World Tour, and both players will be eager for a stronger showing at Arena Fyn in Odense.
Lakshya Sen, a 2021 World Championship bronze medalist and fourth-place finisher at the Paris Olympics, fought hard in his loss to Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in Finland. At the Denmark Open, Sen will face China’s Lu Guang Zu in the opening round, a player he has not yet encountered in professional play. Should he advance, Sen could meet Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the second round, with reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand likely waiting in the quarter-finals.
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, will be looking to address recent struggles after her early exit to Canada’s Michelle Li, an opponent she had previously dominated. Under the guidance of new coaches Anup Sridhar and Korea’s Lee Hyun-il, Sindhu will open against Chinese Taipei’s Pai Yu Po. A potential second-round clash against China’s Han Yue awaits if she advances.
India’s women’s singles challenge also includes rising stars Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap, and Unnati Hooda. Bansod, who reached the quarterfinals of the China Open, will face Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh, while Kashyap is set to compete against Thailand’s Supanida Katethong. Unnati Hooda, the 2022 Odisha Open winner, will take on USA’s Lauren Lam.
In the women’s doubles, India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who missed the Paris Olympics, will face Malaysia’s fifth-seeded pair, Pearly Tan and Thinnah Muralitharan. The Panda sisters, Swetaparna and Rutaparna, will go up against Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tung.
India’s mixed doubles entries include the husband-wife duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy, who will face Canada’s Kevin Lee and Eliana Zhang, and the pairing of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, who will take on Indonesia’s Rehan Kusharjanto and Lisa Kusumawati.
