Eleven Indian shuttlers, including two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, are set to compete at the French Open 2024 badminton tournament starting on Tuesday
05 March 2024: The event, a BWF Super 750 tournament, will take place at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena, the venue for badminton at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
PV Sindhu, returning to the BWF World Tour, will face Canada’s Michelle Li in the opening round of women’s singles. Sindhu recently made a remarkable comeback from injury at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia, leading the Indian women’s team to a historic gold medal.
In the men’s doubles category, the world No. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will compete. They aim to reclaim the French Open title they won in 2022 and finished as runners-up in 2019. Satwik-Chirag will face Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the round of 32.
However, Indian men’s singles players face tough challenges. Priyanshu Rajawat starts against world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen, Kidambi Srikanth faces world No. 14 Chou Tien Chen, Lakshya Sen plays against Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama, and HS Prannoy takes on Lu Guang Zu of China.
In women’s doubles, Indian pairs Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Castro will compete against each other in the opening match, both aiming for a spot at Paris 2024.
The French Open 2024 provides qualifying ranking points for the Paris Olympics, with the qualification window for badminton opening on May 1 last year. As the players gear up for tough competition, all eyes will be on PV Sindhu as she makes her return to the international badminton stage.
